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.

The documentary is good on the gay aspect of 54, and disco generally.

In 98 minutes, Studio 54 captures the club on its best nights and on its worst mornings.

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.