One of the most undeniably disappointing films of the 90s, 54 tried to be a bunch of things at the same time, and ended up doing none of them successfully. Plus it had one of the strangest, skeeviest performances in history from Mike Myers, who clearly thought he was going to win an Oscar for this...
There's one thing that may get me to watch it again, however, as the newly restored director's cut—which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival—reincorporates nearly 40 minutes of footage cut by the Weinsteins back in 1998, including a make-out scene between stars Ryan Phillippe and Breckin Meyer.
In an interview with Vulture (link below) about the film's "cult status as a lost classic of gay cinema," Phillippe indicated his pleasure at the restorations, including that kiss...
One of the film’s key scenes was a kiss between real-life best friends Phillippe and Meyer — Meyer’s first onscreen kiss. The scene was later cut — deemed too risqué for the mass-market crowds to which the studio hoped to appeal.
“There was a part of us that was a little sad nobody ever got to see it,” says Phillippe of the kiss, which was restored for the director's cut. “We did something that was relatively bold for two young male actors, and we took pride in the places that the original story went. So, it’s nice that people finally get to see Breckin and me kiss.”
Perez Hilton posted the video of the deleted scene on his site about a year and a half ago, but the quality is of the utmost shittiness. Still, it was the only way to see it until now. Hopefully this will make its way stateside at some point, because I am intrigued by the notion of seeing this version of the film. Only time will tell if we'll get to see it.
Via Vulture