Six Days Seven Nights (1998) starring Harrison Ford, Anne Heche, David Schwimmer, Jacqueline Obradors, Temuera Morrison, Allison Janney, Douglas Weston directed by Ivan Reitman Movie Review

Six Days Seven Nights (1998)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Harrison Ford in Six Days Seven Nights (1998)

Romancing the Island

Career girl Robin Monroe (Anne Heche) finds herself being swept away for a romantic vacation by her boyfriend Frank (David Schwimmer) although it doesn't get off to a great start when Robin has a disagreement with the chartered pilot Quinn Harris (Harrison Ford) whose big breasted girlfriend Angelica (Jacqueline Obradors) grabs Frank's eyes. But Robin ends up needing Quinn's help when her boss calls and asks her to cover a story on a neighbouring island and for $700 he will take her. But a storm causes them to crash land on an uninhabited island where they are going to have to get along to survive especially when they find themselves with a bunch of pirates chasing them.

I reckon if I had been a sixteen year old when I first watched "Six Days Seven Nights" I would have probably loved it with its mix of ingredients. Those include tropical locations, survival on an uninhabited island, chase scenes, pirates, attractive women, an antagonistic relationship, humour, Anne Heche in a revealing top in almost every scene and Harrison Ford playing a drunk pilot. But I wasn't sixteen when I first watched "Six Days Seven Nights" I was older and had spent many a weekend watching all sorts of old movies and all I got from this movie was a mixing pot of I don't know how many movies I had watched which made it a bit disappointing.

Anne Heche in Six Days Seven Nights (1998)

Now the thing is that "Six Days Seven Nights" is blessed to have a good cast as when Harrison Ford turns on that laid back charm as the pilot who likes to flirt it is enjoyable in a sort of Humphrey Bogart/ Michael Douglas sort of way. It is the same with Anne Heche delivering that forthright performance which is reminiscent of Katharine Hepburn/ Kathleen Turner. Yes I am alluding to two of the many movies which "Six Days Seven Nights" reminds me and any movie lover of but it is down to these two and to some lesser extent David Schwimmer that "Six Days Seven Nights" manages to be entertaining.

But unfortunately once you go beyond the entertaining performances "Six Days Seven Nights" ends up far too obvious and unoriginal as it serves up that mixing pot of ideas from other movies. I won't go into specifics but we have romance, a jungle chase scene reminiscent of "Romancing the Stone" as well as a touch of "My Favourite Wife" or its remake "Move Over Darling" if you prefer. The thing is that whilst it is all entertaining it is also all very predictable and suffers from some seriously cheesy dialogue.

What this all boils down to is that "Six Days Seven Nights" probably did work and probably still does for a certain audience who are yet to experience the rich wealth of movies from the past. But for anyone who has watched the likes of "The African Queen" and "Romancing Stone" it will not only end up familiar but weak in comparison due to some poor dialogue.


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