BOY'S LIFE

Ryan Phillippe goes gay? On a rebound from Reese? No, no, this was 10 years ago.

There was "Dante's Peak" and "Volcano." There was "Apocalypse," "Deep Impact," and "Last Night." There was "Twister" and "A Mighty Wind." Whoops-- scratch that. And there was "54" and it's doppleganger, "The Last Days of Disco," two not-very good movies about, well, the last days of disco. "Last Days" was better, if only for Chloë Sevigny and Kate Beckinsale, who added some glitz to the usual host of upperclass prep school twits you see in a Whit (who?) Stillman film. Whit hasn't made a movie since, so we'll forgive you for not knowing the name. In short, his movies are about a bunch of nerdy guys you would never see at Studio 54 unless a volcano, a twister, an asteroid, and a mighty wind had struck the lower upper west side.

"54" was a better representation of the people you would have seen at 54, although the main characters were all straight people with a distaste for gay fucky-fucky, since gay fucky-fucky was represented by the hilariously creepy Mike Myers as Steve Rubell. "54" was directed by Mark Christopher (?), best known for his contributions to the "Boy's Life" series. And no, they're not like the Hardy Boys, except in your gay dreams. So it makes sense to read that the original cut for the film, recently premiered at LA outfest, was all about the boy's life of Shane O'Shea (played by Ryan), exploring his relationship with Greg (Breckin Meyer), as well as a bunch of other guys.

Apparently the studio-- the movie studio, not "54" -- baulked at the gayness of the original cut, forcing Christopher to remove the gay stuff and add in a love story with Neve Campbell. Maybe that's why the movie was so terrible? Chopped up and re-edited? The new version was enthusiastically received at its premiere, but can you trust a bunch of gays guys at a gay festival watching Ryan making out with Breckin Meyer? It's like the Golden Girls at Chippendales-- they're expected to hoot and holler.