The characters indulge in conversations that are just as arch and brittle as those in “Metropolitan,” but which sound bizarrely out of context when taking place against the backdrop of the hedonistic, anything-goes disco scene. Charlotte is hospitalized the club is busted, forcing Des to decide whether to testify against his boss the publishing house is bought by Simon & Schuster, and “Disco Sucks” T-shirts appear, marking the end of an era. In short order he’s fired for letting people in the back door, then is reinstated Alice is traumatized by contracting both the clap and herpes the first time she goes to bed with a man Jimmy keeps trying to find ways to get into the club Josh begins investigating the establishment for the D.A. They are determined to take an apartment together, with Holly (Tara Subkoff) as a third roommate, and the sharp-dressing, eye-on-the-prize Charlotte, who resents the “ferocious pairing off” she sees around her, is anxious to build up an intense social circle by throwing dinner parties and the like, despite the girls’ utter lack of resources.īack at the club on Wizard of Oz night, Des finds hidden bags of cash destined for shipment to Switzerland. Retiring from the club for a while, film establishes the two young women as entry-level aspiring editors at an independent publishing house. Part of the film’s sense of dislocation, in fact, stems from the gay and druggie environment being foregrounded dramatically by sexually constipated preppies who engage in defensive debates as to whether they qualify as yuppies.

While Charlotte and Alice float around the club, which is generally populated by figures far more exotic and outrageous than the leading characters, the harried Des seems to be in the midst of a sexual identity crisis he upsets friend Nina (Jennifer Beals) by coming out, but later backtracks, saying, “I could be gay.” The girls were classmates in college, and whereas the gorgeous brunette Charlotte has a calculating, pragmatic view of social strategies and considers the Harvard guys she knew at school as creepy wimps, the pretty blond Alice is less ostentatious and more reserved Charlotte, in fact, still alludes to her friend’s disastrous college social life and prods her not to come off like “a kindergarten teacher.”Īmong the others in their set are Josh (Matt Keeslar), a rising star in the D.A.’s office, and Tom (Robert Sean Leonard), who takes an interest in Alice. Much is made of the characters’ anxieties about getting past the velvet ropes and into the club, with one nervous young ad exec, Jimmy (Mackenzie Astin), embarrassed that he can’t get two dorky clients in, although club assistant manager pal Des (Chris Eigeman) often helps him slip in the back door.īut if you’re beautiful, well dressed and female, you have no trouble being ushered into the inner sanctum, and such is the case for Charlotte (Kate Beckinsale) and Alice (Chloe Sevigny). One September in “the very early 1980s,” a bunch of friends converge on the hottest disco in New York, no doubt intended to closely resemble Studio 54, which will be the subject of another film later this year.

Nonetheless, pic has its inviting qualities, which work their seductive ways during the initial 24-minute club sequence. Stillman’s third feature, “Disco” would actually seem to rep the middle installment of his trilogy, as it’s positioned chronologically between “Metropolitan” and “Barcelona” in fact, one of the characters here takes off for Spain.īut whereas “Barcelona” stood as a considerable stylistic advance over Stillman’s debut, this one marks a disappointing retreat from his second outing, so clunky is some of his storytelling and direction.

Last days of disco