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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
John Guare's hit Broadway play--about an Upper East Side couple who gets bilked by a young black man claiming to be Sidney Poitier's son--receives a terrific screen translation in this film by Fred Schepisi. Though the play was discursive and episodic, Schepisi, working from Guare's adaptation, makes it all flow like a fascinating evening listening to friends recount something that happened to them. But the story itself is also intriguing for the disparity it reveals between the wealthy, the would-be wealthy, and the have-nots yearning to be rich. Stockard Channing and Donald Sutherland are exceptional as the couple who open their home to a young man they believe is a friend of their children (to whom they barely speak); Will Smith is fascinatingly glib as the young man, who claims that his famous father is casting a film version of Cats and offers his hosts roles as extras in the film. Smith finds the heartbreaking core of this character and Channing is haunting as a woman looking to make a connection, even with a confused young con artist. --Marshall Fine
From The New Yorker
Fred Schepisi's film of John Guare's brilliant play about affluent, liberal-seeming New Yorkers who are conned by a young, gay black man claiming to be the son of Sidney Poitier. It's as agile and as inventive a visualization of complex theatrical material as you'll ever see. Guare's script (which sticks close to the text of the play) is a virtuoso comedy of upper-middle-class Manhattan manners, and the writing is amazingly nimble and unpredictable. Surprise is both the method of the work and its meaning. The plot is full of twists, the chronology is murderously tricky, and the dialogue is all weird, unaccountable spins-every line comes at you like a screwball or a split-fingered fastball. Guare's subject is the possibility, and the necessity, of seeing the world through someone else's eyes. The odd empathy that develops between the privileged heroine, Ouisa (Stockard Channing), and the young hustler (Will Smith) is moving because it emerges, unexpectedly, out of their radically different-but equally ingenious-strategies for manipulating experience. Their cleverness, like Guare's, ultimately transcends itself. Schepisi's direction keeps the movie charging forward, driven by its locomotive wit, until near the end, when we find ourselves set down in a huge and thrillingly unfamiliar emotional landscape, hardly knowing how we got there. It's a wonderful ride. The terrific cast also includes Donald Sutherland, Mary Beth Hurt, Bruce Davison, and Anthony Michael Hall. -Terrence Rafferty
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
The first scene is very confusing, and the next 20 minutes of movie a bit of a drag: the Kittredges are so unbearably affected! Later on, i came to realize how important those draggy moments were. This is a movie that got progressively better and better, and kept me engaged to the very end. In a nutshell: Flan (what a name!) and Ouisa Kittredge are art dealers living in posh East Side and are entertaining a guest when this young black man drops by their apartment, victim of muggers. He claims to be not only the son of Sidney Poitier, but also friends with the couple's children at Harvard. He is so well spoken, exotic, fascinating, flattering, that soon he has everyone in that apartment wrapped around his little finger. When you finally get to meet the children, you quickly understand the reason for that. Paul Poitier is a classy con-artist that makes people fall in love with him. For example, after explaining what his thesis is about (stolen by muggers), Flan Kittredge throws a passionate and outraged "I hope your robbers read every page of it!" It is impossible not to like him. After Paul does the rounds among the Kittredges' friends, he becomes cocktail party anecdote. Ouisa is the one who eventually admits how much she cares for this boy and becomes incredibly guilty for not having helped him enough. The best metaphor in the movie is represented by the Kandinski painting, the chaos-control canvas, because while on the surface it seems that Oiusa has her life under control with lots of money, powerful friends and poshy luxurious lifestyle, in fact she has another side where there is little sense of meaning.
My biggest objection is the title music. Somehow that chintzy violin tune clashed with the story big time. The acting is magnificent, the NY shots beautiful, and there are some hilarious moments in the film, like the scene at The Rainbow Room. This movie is a 10, a must-see, a masterpiece. Don't miss it!
32 of 37 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
One night in a posh Manhattan apartment a young black man (Will Smith), appearing to be mugged enters the home of Flan (Donald Sutherland) and Ouisa Kittredge (Stockard Channing). The man who says his name is Paul, claims to be friends of the Kittredge children. Over the evening Paul flatters the couple and a buisness guest they are hosting with his exotic tales and fascinating life stories. However, things aren't always what they seem to be. Like the painting in the movie, what is chaotic on one side, may be controlled on the other and vice versa.
This was the first major film breakthrough for Will Smith, proving that he isn't just the Fresh Prince of Bel Air and is a serious actor. Donald Sutherland does a superb job as the stuck-up art dealer who makes millions of dollars but spends more than he can make. However, the real star of the movie is Stockard Channing. Her performance is perfect and her portrayal of Ouisa's self-disovery, realization, and spiritual redemption could not have been better.
SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION has become a part of the American pop conscience (thanks largely to the Kevin Bacon game). However, the movie is much more than a pop cultural reference. It is a movie for the critical movie viewer. It explores questions of great magnitude and in the end, concludes on a comic, rather than tragic, note. It is a small world after all, just six degrees of separation.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
The ability to tame the imagination and in so doing to recreate our personal world: this is the point of Guare's adapted play. The film centers around two themes: the inevitable interconnectedness of mankind and the often untapped ability of everyone to create themselves, determine their fate. Wil Smith plays the saddeningly pathological 'Paul Poitier,' a young, black, inner-city youth stuck in a life that has led him nowhere until he finds 'the right people' to open the door to another world: the Kittridges. Stockard Channing's character, Weeza Kittridge, learns the beauty in Paul's deranged art and comes to understand the serious meaningless and 'collage' that her lack of imaginative participation has allowed her life to become. Everything means something. Everyone is a sign, a symbol, an opportunity, a 'door opening up to a new world.' " It's a profound thought."
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Fascinating tale with some great acting
I didn't know 'till I read it here that this is based on something that really happened to the playwright. This makes me like the script even more than I did. Read more
Published 4 months ago by R. Swanson
Used copy of Six Degrees of Separation
Ordered a used version of Six Degrees of Separation, unfortunately it was received cracked. It was not noticed until after I had popped it into the player, and it would not play. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Denubia P Mendez
Mother Will
Wow,I was so surprised to see the gay side of Will Smith. It was and out standing performance of one who put his mind body and inner sole into a gay character. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Ervinrenixjr
Six degrees of separation
This is an enjoyable and intriguing movie loosely based on a true story. It has a first-rate script and excellent performances, particularly Will Smith. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Sybil
Elitist Inside Jokes -
"Six Degrees of Separation" was not the movie I expected. I was hoping for some real laugh out loud comedy, not the affected, dry wit and snobbery of the New York class culture. Read more
Published on April 26, 2010 by Loyd E. Eskildson
Great Actors, No Story
I am a big fan of Donald Sutherland's and Will Smith. Thought this would be a video worth buying and what a disappointment! Story takes forever to unfold... to nothing conclusive.
Published on February 17, 2010 by Neusa Hirota
Purchase Review for Six Degrees of Separation
I was very pleased with the condition of my DVD when it arrived in the mail. The package was not damaged. The contents were in tact. Read more
Published on November 9, 2009 by Keyser Soze
No ending to an interesting story
This movie is very well acted and it held my interest throughout. Donald Sutherland's character is insipid, which is, I suppose, what he is supposed to be, so I can't hold that... Read more
Published on February 2, 2009 by LF
A Movie for the Chattering Classes.....
After watching this movie for about 10 minutes, it was obvious this was first a Broadway play in Manhattan. Read more
Published on January 6, 2009 by N. Brown
AMAZON Scores Again
The DVD was bought for my step-granddaughter, who loves Will Smith anything! That having been said, as always, the performance of Amazon and its "work-withs" has been excellent. Read more
Published on January 6, 2009 by P. Yavner
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