Very well executed

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

I have been wanting to see Six Degrees of Separation for quite while and finally found a copy on DVD. Well, this was a tough one for me, but I liked it. The direction is superb, the acting is superb so I must give it top notch marks in those categories. Will Smith really was fantastic in his early role. The problem I found with this film was that it was a stage play adopted for film. For me, stage plays are stage plays for a reason and films are films for a reason. I found the dialogue way over the top. People simply don't speak like that - not even rich people. For some reason writers always think rich people speak super correctly and discuss philosophy. The truth is, because of my job I meet a lot of rich people and they don't act or speak like that at all. The scene where they where at the wedding telling the story was also over the top. They start telling the story to three or four people and by the end more than a dozen have gathered to listen to these people. It simply wouldn't happen. For some reason this really strikes me as a Woody Allen type of film with the same type of characters, dialogue and New York setting. But, I must say,, it is still superb.

...it reeks of self indulgent and rather amateurish ensemble acting. The young people in this film never seem, for one moment like they have any idea of what they are doing. The adults are never believable. Please don't tell me that this is exactly the point and how their roles were meant to be played. Only the worst director in the world could have looked at their group scenes and said, "now that really sizzled." I am positive that every actor in this film (some of whom are truly gifted performers) other than Stockard Channing, (who---let's face it---has been a lot better than this)--probably cringe when they watch themselves in this. This is the only timeI have ever seen Donald Sutherland in, where he is grating and annoying. Bruce Davidson is much better than this and seems to be phoning it in. And Will Smith is NOT a revelation in this film, no matter how much people wanted him to be. He is more of a charming speech giver than someone truly invested in hischaracter. The flash back and story telling style seems like something out of Love American Style. This is a wannabe attempt at high brow film making and it does not get there. Prepare to be very bored and lectured to by a story that wants to dazzle you with style over substance.

This is a disgusting movie with so many phony hypocrites in it. If you treat it as a social satire but in reality, you just couldn't find so many disgusting human beings in one city. If New York was targeted as the hypocrites center of the universe as the movie itself described, then you must keep away from this cesspool of phonies. I just couldn't hang on to watch this movie, because almost in any moment I might puke. The characters were so disgusting, so exaggerated, so dramatically ballooned into so self-important pretentious. If rich people could become so disgustingly inhuman, then I'd rather stay in poverty. At first, I thought this movie was with a touch of Woody Allen's movies, but then I've found out this was a totally different beast, a twisted and mutant interpretation of the rich and the rich wannabes. The dialog was just so over-the-top pretentious and obnoxious that hurt every nerve of my hearing. Could be people become so pathetic that they would have to sit down or stand around to listen to the crap of the couple and the phony young guy played by Will Smith? Who would be so stupid to suffer such torment crap out by these people?This movie is a complete ridiculous joke!

Flan (Donald Sutherland) and Ouisa (Stockard Channing) play a typical upper class, rich, yuppie couple in New York City. On one faithful night, a young man named Paul(Will Smith) comes to their house saying he has been mugged and that he goes to school with their children at Harvard University and is the son of veteran actor Sidney Poitier. He is quickly loved by Flan and Ouisa due to his charm, wit and knowledge of literary works such as "Catcher In The Rye". However, after finding him and another male in their bedroom, they kick him out. As they speak with some friends, they find out that Paul is in fact a con-man who charms his way into the homes of the upper class and throughout the film, the couple, along with other people who have encountered Paul, try to find and have him arrested while Ouisa also finds out about herself. Six Degrees Of Separation was adapted from a play of the same name, made by John Guare(who also wrote the screenplay for this film), which was in turn inspired by a real life event which happened to a friend of his. The film was directed by Fred Schepisi. Let's start with the positive. The acting in the film is top notch. We have big names such as Donald Sutherland who has proved himself to be an excellent actor in countless other films such as "Ordinary People". Stockard Channing, who you might remember from the musical/comedy "Grease" also plays a good role. But the biggest surprise in this film is probably rapper/actor Will Smith. At the time of making this film, Will Smith was known as the rapper "Fresh Prince". He also starred in the popular comedy series "The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air". This was his first dramatic role, and he was simply brilliant. My biggest problem with this film was that…it just was not that interesting. The plot itself was somewhat intriguing, however I did not like the way it played out. There were quite a few times in the film where I was completely lost and did not understand what was going on. The film also dragged in a few places and I feel some portions could have been either trimmed or completely taken out of the film. An example of this is during a scene where Will Smith's character is staring at the camera and reciting a very long list of the films of Sidney Poitier. I understand it was essential for his character to have knowledge of Poitier and his work if he was to pretend he was Poitier's son, however we (the viewers) could have lived without that scene. In conclusion, Six Degrees Of Separation is a fairly well made film with strong performances and a somewhat intriguing storyline, however I found it a bit boring and overlong at times.