Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows Shop News Showtimes

Studio 54: The Documentary

Released Oct 5, 2018 1h 38m Documentary LGBTQ+ TRAILER for List
90% Tomatometer 84 Reviews 74% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
In 1977 college friends Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager open Studio 54, a nightclub that quickly becomes the most popular hot spot in New York City.
Watch on Fandango at Home Buy Now

Where to Watch

Studio 54: The Documentary

Studio 54: The Documentary

What to Know

Critics Consensus

Studio 54 offers audiences an engrossing close-up look at an emblem of a decade's decadence - as well as its sobering aftermath.

Read Critics Reviews

Critics Reviews

View All (84) Critics Reviews
Matthew Lickona San Diego Reader The movie tries hard to make the story of the club's rise and fall emblematic of an era, but in the end, it's about a couple of old friends from the neighborhood who got lucky, got greedy, and got caught. Rated: 1/5 Nov 16, 2018 Full Review Mark Feeney Boston Globe The documentary is good on the gay aspect of 54, and disco generally. Rated: 2.5/4 Oct 25, 2018 Full Review Richard Roeper Chicago Sun-Times In 98 minutes, Studio 54 captures the club on its best nights and on its worst mornings. Rated: 3/4 Oct 19, 2018 Full Review David Reddish Queerty In the absence of a functioning time machine, none of us alive today can ever visit the mother of all discos. Studio 54 offers the next best thinga window into a moment where mainstream and queer history united, and a taste of one Hell of a great party. Rated: 3/4 Mar 20, 2022 Full Review Ben Turner The Pink Lens While this documentary exposes the club's mechanisms for what they were, the pizzazz of what made Studio 54 what it was is still very much present. Rated: 4/5 Sep 1, 2021 Full Review Zehra Phelan Flavourmag Embodies the hedonistic voice of the essential and legendary club; an end of a definitive era that strips bare the sugar coating with forthright honesty and absolutely no shame. Rated: 4/5 Aug 19, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (15) audience reviews
Audience Member The documentary was everything that Studio 54 wasn't: predictable, dry and without surprise. Didn't find the telling of it's surge to fame, or its owner's fall to be all that intriguing. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/12/23 Full Review Audience Member Studio 54: The Documentary is an amazing documentary bringing the history of the danceclub and its founders. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/24/23 Full Review Audience Member Fascinating glimpse into this pop culture phenom. Despite the poor business and/or moral decisions they made, I came away loving Steve & especially Ian! Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/23/23 Full Review david f A great documentary about the famous NYC nightclub. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Solid documentary on what the rise and the fall of the historic Studio 54. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review Audience Member Youth and Beauty were worth more than power, money, and celebrity to gain entry to Xanadu once passing the heavily guarded and out of control frustration of the angry street mob desperate and determined to dance in a disco that really had nothing else going for it then the consistent and persistent rejection of Studio54 wannabes who would never, not for one night of their pathetic lives, be given a wish to finally see what all the fuss was about. Being admitted to Studio54 was no different than dancing at one of the proliferating discos benefiting from the fact that there were more cash friendly discothèque clients wasting time and not able to spend their disposable income gathering like a herd of mindless sheep occupying otherwise closed for business 54th Street from 10pm – 4am. Xenon opened in another unoccupied Broadway theater with the exact same architectural model as Studio54, a clone of the universal destination to be admitted and experience, but Xenon's front door was not a mob scene, but a polite acknowledgement by the doormen, a short wait as if there was a fire code restriction, and a cold admittance once a gaggle of the Young and the Beautiful would cackling as they migrated out of Xenon on their way to another disco as club hopping was a unique and entitled privilege when you are Young and Beautiful. Xenon was more interested in bleeding the wallets of the wannabees than Studio54. And with clubs the size and technical sophistication as Bonds, Hurrah, New York New York, Infinity, Regine's, Paradise Garage, Ice Palace 57, Les Mouche, the Fun House, and the ultimate in space and design, the Saint, charging annual memberships on top of heavy door fees, there were options. There was no need to feel like a pauper begging to be wrangled from the insipid crowd of zombies mindless of their lack of worth to the doormen of Studio54. I saw the documentary artlessly named after the club, ‘Studio 54', in 2019, curious that a film crew would have gained access to the aloof crowd of celebrities not exactly exhibiting good public relations behavior, although the paparazzi was omnipresent to capture a film studio promotional still that would be sold, printed, and seen by the World to ensure the fanbase that their star looked chic and seemed to be in very good spirits. Never let the public know you are Missing in Action. Greta Garbo dissolved into the privacy that celebrities can't afford. But the film didn't exhibit anything more than what the paparazzi's camera still shot. I was disappointed, given that I was an 18 year old stripper/hustler at the Ziegfield of respectable homosexual theaters at that time: the Gaiety Burlesque, where I learned from street savvy colleagues how to dress, present, dance, and get complimentary entry to most clubs, Studio54 was no exception, as we were the perfect non-speaking extras who filled the background and just danced, not ogling or gossiping about a celebrity faux pas. I saw a lot of ill behavior. We just danced like it was the only reason to be there. I wrote about my introduction to New York society and charm school behavior in discotheques like Studio54 which when I realized the academic and professional opportunities I possessed, left the Gaiety, finished college, got a qualified boyfriend, and continued to go to the next new club on weekends to satisfy my addiction to disco and the culture that it thrived on: drugs, excessive hours dancing from Saturday to Sunday, obsessive about maintaining an unnecessarily overly developed physique, and to always feel like you were the object of someone's unrequited desire. A harsh world. Without stating the title, it is a cautionary tale of the possible extinction of the species ‘homosapiens', as the movie ‘Studio54' sadly ends with the party and its participants over and done with those halcyon nights. Those that survived, with the exception of successful entrepreneur Ian Schrager, are not, and probably chose not to be interviewed for their participation in a short-lived fairytale euphoria. Bianca Jagger was a spectacle of a beautiful mess looking at her sorry face in the public restroom in 1978. Today, she lives far away figuratively and physically from the tiny theater that was once ‘Studio54'. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/20/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Studio 54: The Documentary

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

Rebels on Pointe 100% 100% Rebels on Pointe TRAILER for Rebels on Pointe Studio One Forever % % Studio One Forever TRAILER for Studio One Forever Kiki 83% 50% Kiki TRAILER for Kiki Casa Susanna 86% 100% Casa Susanna Tab Hunter Confidential 88% 96% Tab Hunter Confidential TRAILER for Tab Hunter Confidential Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis In 1977 college friends Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager open Studio 54, a nightclub that quickly becomes the most popular hot spot in New York City.
Director
Matt Tyrnauer
Producer
John Battsek, Corey Reeser, Matt Tyrnauer
Distributor
Zeitgeist Films, Kino Lorber
Production Co
Altimeter Films, Passion Pictures
Genre
Documentary, LGBTQ+
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Oct 5, 2018, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 15, 2019
Box Office (Gross USA)
$199.7K
Runtime
1h 38m
Most Popular at Home Now