I had no idea what to expect from The Last Days of Disco. My experience with Kate Beckinsale began with Pearl Harbor and only goes back as far as Brokedown Palace (a film I don't even remember her in). Chloe Sevigny I didn't really know until 2003's Shattered Glass and have hardly gotten to know her since, outside of her role in Zodiac. On top of all that I had not seen a Whit Stillman feature. So to say I was approaching this one cold is an understatement. Actually, it was as if I was seeing Beckinsale and Sevigny for the very first time as they don't even resemble the actresses they have become, especially Beckinsale.

Taking place in the early 1980s, The Last Days of Disco centers on Charlotte (Beckinsale) and Alice (Sevigny), two recent Ivy League college grads working in book publishing and spending their evenings in Manhattan's Studio 54-esque night club. The story follows their characters and the men they encounter, never doing much more than offering a small slice of life using an era gone by as a starting point.

Beckinsale shows true talent as the bitchy Charlotte and Sevigny is more approachable than I have ever seen her as Alice, a character too nice for her own good and smart enough to see Charlotte is probably not the best of influences. Just as the two characters are talking of moving in she wonders aloud if it's a good idea saying, "I'm not even sure we like each other." It's foresight like this that really makes her character interesting, just as all of us have been in situations where we're not sure what we are doing is the right decision, but we know well enough that it isn't necessarily a situation we can't get out of with only a minor amount of discomfort.

However, the actors and actresses aside, and all fit their roles perfectly, the highlight here is Stillman's script. His words ring true and the conversations on screen are worth listening to. However, I see this film as a step above his 1990 hit Metropolitan primarily because his characters actually do something more than laze about talking the night away. Something as simple as showing the characters dancing adds more to the story than Metropolitan had to offer with its endless barrage of insightful, yet increasingly tiresome, fireside chats. There is a flow to this film that works well with its title and makes good use of its soundtrack.

As for Criterion's presentation, the film itself looks great. Granted, this is a 1998 release and not as much clean-up is probably necessary as most often is the case with some of its more vintage selections, but this is a stellar presentation and one it is unfortunate they didn't decide to also release on Blu-ray as the interiors at the nightclub alone would have been worth the high-definition treatment.

The supplemental material is limited, but for the most part a hit. There is a group of four deleted scenes, which can be viewed with optional commentary and the deleted portions are also revisited on the film's commentary, which is brand new and features Stillman, Sevigny and Eigeman. Based on the discussion I have to assume it was recorded in mid-April 2009 as Burr Steers is mentioned as directing the Zac Efron film 17 Again after his role as Van in Disco was his final performance as an actor.

Stillman talks a lot about the rushed production as they set out to finish Disco before Miramax got Mark Christopher's 54 in theaters, wanting to beat them to the punch, even though I would argue that while mildly similar when it comes to marketing the two films really don't mirror one another. Disco ended up in theaters in May of 1998 while 54 was released in August. 54 still did $13 million better than Disco at the box-office, but considering it only earned $16.7 million it's hard to call either a financial success.

Other than that there is a vintage behind-the-scenes featurette, a stills gallery with captions by Stillman and an audio recording of Stillman reading from "The Last Days of Disco, with Cocktails at Petrossian Afterwards," a continuation of the film's story as written by Mackenzie Astin's character Jimmy.

It wasn't until after I had watched the film and started watching the features that I realized how much I enjoyed it. Watching the vintage featurette I started remembering scenes and how I most importantly love Josh's (Matt Keeslar) breakdown of Disney's Lady and the Tramp, which is a show stopper if their ever was one. I tried finding the video online, but can only manage the text:

Josh Neff: There is something depressing about [Lady and the Tramp], and it's not really about dogs. Except for some superficial bow-wow stuff at the start, the dogs all represent human types, which is where it gets into real trouble. Lady, the ostensible protagonist, is a fluffy blond Cocker Spaniel with absolutely nothing on her brain. She's great looking, but - let's be honest - incredibly insipid. Tramp, the love interest, is a smarmy braggart of the most obnoxious kind - an oily jailbird out for a piece of tail, or... whatever he can get.

Charlotte Pingress: Oh, come on.

Josh Neff: No, he's a self-confessed chicken thief, and all-around sleaze ball. What's the function of a film of this kind? Essentially as a primer on love and marriage directed at very young people, imprinting on their little psyches the idea that smooth-talking delinquents recently escaped from the local pound are a good match for nice girls from sheltered homes. When in ten years the icky human version of Tramp shows up around the house, their hormones will be racing and no one will understand why. Films like this program women to adore jerks.

The text alone doesn't necessarily do the scene justice as it comes later in the film, and after all of the characters are established. I would say the film is worth watching for this one scene alone, but there is plenty more to get out of it.

So, yes, I recommend this one highly. It's a film you will find yourself returning to over and over again as it just sits well while you're watching. It doesn't try too hard in terms of story as much as it excels at character, dialogue and personality. It succeeds by setting up a scenario and putting interesting people inside of it, and what they do with it is well worth the watch.