rufkdlk from production design by Patrizia von Brandenstein to direction from Fred Schepisi to the last performance of Kitty Carlisle Hart as a doyenne hostess, really first rate. Also first on screen appearance I think, for Heather Graham and Eric Thal, two kids from Utah. As for the back of the head kiss between lead Will Smith and the brat pack's Anthony Michael Hall, it came out this week that Denzel Washington advised Smith not to kiss Hall but frankly, I didn't miss it. Nice cameos from Sir Ian McKellen, Richard Masur, the always wonderful Mary Beth Hurt and Bruce Davison. It mostly takes place in a penthouse overlooking Central Park so that's why I love it so, that and a score that really gets under your skin. Stockard Channing will want to forget some of the 80s outfits but all in all, I could watch this one anytime. Watch for future director JJ Abrams as a bratty dorm phone thrower.

SnoopyStyle Ouisa (Stockard Channing) and Flan Kittredge (Donald Sutherland) are upper class Fifth Avenue NYC private art dealers. Their prized possession is a two-sided Kandinsky. They recount the story of their dinner with wealthy South African investor Geoffrey Miller (Ian McKellen) to a growing crowd. Paul (Will Smith) interrupts the dinner showing up at their door claiming to have been robbed in Central Park. He supposedly is studying at Harvard with their kids Talbot and Woody and is the son of Sidney Poitier. All the while, he is shown practicing his con. Then they catch him in bed with Rick (Eric Thal) and they kick him out. However Miller wants to connect with Sidney Poitier. Then their friends Kitty (Mary Beth Hurt) and Larkin (Bruce Davison) come to them with the same story. They find Dr. Fine (Richard Masur) with a familiar encounter. The kids find out that it's their high school classmate Trent Conway (Anthony Michael Hall).It's an eye-opening performance from Will Smith and it's actually one of his best. He's being the slick performer and it's playing up his natural charisma. It is probably one of his most daring character and one which he has not gone beyond. I do wish he takes some chances in non-conventional roles to expand his repertoire. Channing and Sutherland are also terrific. It's sharp social commentary. On a minor note, J.J. Abrams overacts a bit as Dr. Fine's crazed son. His ridiculousness is somewhat funny. The kids generally yell and overact too much.

lasttimeisaw Nearly 20 years ago, SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION should be regarded as Will Smith's breakthrough role into the mainstream Hollywood, the film is adapted by a renowned play by John Guare, directed by Aussie Fred Schepisi (from A CRY IN THE DARK 1988) and Channing reprises her role in the film edition which has guaranteed her sole Oscar nomination so far. Ever since the opening strain, there are echoes of high-class snootiness abounds which sets the keynote of the whole conversation-foiled phoniness among its quite antipathetic characters, namely the Kittredge couple, then when Will Smith's young intruder emerges, the tension never alleviates although it seems that from the surface the harmony is unfeigned at the beginning and Smith's identity as Sidney Poiter's son is ever questioned, simply since he knows their children's name and his eloquent run-down of his father's filmography, but presented by Smith's black color, the unspeakable sensitivity of racism is well-written and underscored. Added that the paraphrase of CATCHER IN THE RYE is more or less a stratagem of showboating, so when all the boast ends, the ugly truth manifests himself, a satirically comedic story continues with a welter of less spectacular vignettes. Written from a true story, John Guare's screenplay is less staggering than the integral cast, Channing is superb in her final revelation scene but elsewhere, her ability is curbed and sometimes even a bit OTT, Sutherland is more natural and his role is much worse in both moral and ethnic gauges, still another great performance for his undervalued career. Will Smith is the linchpin to influence his low-life leverage onto these upmarket snobs, his performance is not so astonishing on account of the greenness and rawness, but he is luminous in front of cameras, although the fake gay-kiss is a let-down, Hollywood's conservationism is just as dreadful and stinking as its unimaginative blockbuster monopoly. Funny thing is that in the film, Smith make a spiel on the importance of the supremacy of imagination, which plays a grave part in distinguishing human from other species, but now has being over-abused in the mundane media, but the whole theory is too feeble to be taken seriously, neither by upper class nor by those less self-concerned great amount of masses. So who is the real audience of the film? The filmmakers behind it had not a clue! PS: a young J.J. Abrams is in the film as well, as an actor, who could expect that?

narulagaurav I watched this movie because of the title - 'Six Degrees of Separation' does sound interesting.Well, to put it shortly, it's just a bag of pseudo-intellectual trash. A waste of time, money and effort on everyone's part.The characters are fatuous, the storyline ridiculous. The plot starts nowhere, goes nowhere and ends nowhere. I kept waiting for something, anything, to happen. Nothing did. Frankly, I demand 1.5 hours of precious time back, even if for sitting on a park bench staring into space!My rating for it is 1 on 10 - just because you can't do a zero rating.