Six degrés de séparation

I saw Stockard Channing do this play on Broadway, and it remains one of the best theater experiences ever. It's really the story of her character Ouisa gradually seeing that her life is just pretty surfaces, and in meeting this young con-man with whom she makes an intense emotional connection, that she wants more than her marriage, her friends, her life. The dialogue goes like the wind and you barely get a chance to catch your breath; some of the dialogue is spoken as a soliloquy. It's John Guare's mastery of the language at its best, better than "The House of Blue Leaves." I'm much more of a movie person than a theater person, but this play really sang.

Unfortunately the translation to film is only partially successful. Whereas the play is a spoken confessional of Oiusa Kitteridge, the movie emphasizes Paul (Will Smith). Smith does a good-to-great job with this character. The transition from a verbal to a visual medium robs the language of much of its power, and rather than re-write it as a movie, it's sort of a 'half-transition,' which doesn't really please anyone. The other problem I had with it was Donald Sutherland; who wasn't half-bad. But John Cunningham, who played the role on Broadway, was sharper, harder, a GAMBLER...Sutherland just comes across as a nice guy that gets a bit upset that he's been conned. And the emotional blow that comes at the end of the play when you realize that Oiusa's perfect marriage is falling apart just doesn't come across.

Still fascinating for its premise and worth a look; even this watered-down version never fails to entertain.

I don't understand why the public and the critic didn't celebrate "Six Degrees of Separation". It is a very, very good and unusual dramatic comedy about, among other subjects, the high society life and the ambitions. I liked this film very much and I highly recommend it. However, there is a hollow ending and so I gave it a 9 out of 10. The same way a must-see.

The pampered rich folk of Manhattan get skewered alive in this elegant adaptation of John Guare's hit play. Based on an amazing true story, the film concerns a wealthy Manhattan couple (Stockard Channing and Donald Sutherland) whose lives are turned upside down when a young black man (Will Smith) who claims to be a friend of their children's drops in after having been attacked in the park. He says he's Sidney Poitier's son, cooks up a gourmet meal, quotes "Catcher in the Rye," and endears himself to this couple. As the film progresses, one stunning event after another occurs, culminating in a beautifully cathartic ending. Sutherland gives one of his best performances, but it is the luminescent Channing who steals the movie. It is so nice to see this gifted actress -- looking more beautiful than ever -- in the lead as opposed to playing someone's best friend. Her impeccable timing and innate charm elevate an already dazzling screenplay to heights unimaginable. "Six Degrees of Separation" is as witty, thoughtful, and relevant as any film made the entire decade.

SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION is an outstanding play transformed to the screen with dignity but with a script that keeps us in the live theatre instead of in a motion picture. Not that that is a bad thing: the script by John Guare is brilliant. It simply seems a little static, with its marvelous plays on words, repeated phrases, and disjointed movements significant unto themselves but not really taking advantage of cinematic possibilities of flow.

Essentially the tale of how a married couple who deal art (Stockard Channing and Donald Sutherland - both in peak form) are so caught up in their superficial lives that they are taken in by a handsome young African American con artist (Will Smith) whose various antics bring the couple round to reexamining their shallow existence. Most of the story is related over art dealings and dinner conversations and are peopled by such luminaries as Kitty Carlisle, Ian McKellen, artists Chuck Close and Kazuko, Mary Beth Hurt, Bruce Davidson etc - a really fine ensemble. There are many social comments clustered in this story and it continues to play well after its origins on the stage and fifteen years after the movie was made. This was one of Will Smith's entries into film as well as one of the gifted Stockard Channing's finest roles. Highly recommended for repeated viewings. Grady Harp

A film that had its moments, like that wonderful monologue about Catcher in the Rye, or the distress someone feels about how real experiences dissolve into future anecdotes. It also provides a nice bit of satire about the wealthy, their entitled offspring, and their delusions about their own racial tolerance.

Unfortunately, it's also one of the more affected scripts, with dialogue that ventures beyond just stagey (obviously coming from a play) and into exaggeration. There is real pathos at the bottom of this story, but it's undercut by so much of what we see not feeling real.

"Mom told me you were a rotten lover and drank so much your body smelled of cheap white wine!" a son bellows at his father over the phone. "I was so happy, I wanted to add sex to it," the con-man says in a sing-song voice to explain why he brought a lover up to the rich couple's apartment. There are many other examples of groan-worthy lines.

I have to say, the film also doesn't do a very good job with its title concept, that we're separated from everyone on the planet by six other people. It's just stated as something a character has read, without an example or further discussion. It's in there I suppose as a way of highlighting the empathy the wealthy should be feeling for the young man who has tried to wheedle into their world, as "close" as the human hive is supposed to be, but that felt more forced than satisfying to me.

I liked the performances from Will Smith and Stockard Channing, and I liked the creativity (dare I say imagination) it showed in the second half. Once we know there's a con across multiple people going on, a more conventional film would have gone through the drama of what was being stolen (like maybe a switcharoo of those expensive paintings for fakes) and how the guy would get caught (following a cat and mouse game with a savvy detective). In this one, we don't know at all what direction it will take. Overall, kind of an odd film, but worth seeing.