PyrolyticCarbon Review of Six Degrees of Separation

Six Degrees of Separation (1993)

A very good story, with brilliant performances, well worth watching.

[8/10 · 9 December 2002]

At once you can see this was a stage play, with the concentration on dialogue, and although it stands out somewhat here, and there is a slight edge of everything being just a notch above the usual, the visuals and acting bring you into this great story quite easily. Will Smith acts his pants off, well quite literally in some scenes, but he is superb in this role, and acting along such names as Stockard Channing and Donald Sutherland, both of whom are spectacular in their roles. A story based around the idea that everyone is connected to everyone else by a maximum of six other people, it's just finding those six that make the link, and this is turned into an extremely interesting story, told in a series of anecdotal discussions between the main characters and their friends and business partners at various different social occasions. You find yourself drawn and fascinated to the tale as it unfolds, almost feeling as though you are one of those people, eager to hear the next step in the tale. However, I felt somewhat disappointed in the ending, almost as though it didn't fit and came out of nowhere. Yet the ideas of the stranger giving the couple more than they gave the stranger was a good one, I just think what they finally got wasn't what the story needed…but then, sometimes that's life. A very good story, with brilliant performances, well worth watching.