Where to watch Six Days Seven Nights
2 Stars
Taking a romantic tropical island week off with her boyfriend, an ambitious, decisive New York girl agrees to help her magazine out by covering a story on a neighboring island. The only plane available is piloted by a laid-back heavy drinker with whom she shares a mutual dislike. But she has no choice and he can’t refuse the money. When the plane crash-lands on an uninhabited island with little chance of rescue they both wish they had made other arrangements – at least to start with.
Six Days, Seven Nights was released in the late 1990s, during a decade in which movie stars could make middling entertainment like this and it would still be a box-office success. It was also the era of home video, and Six Days, Seven Nights seems like it was made with the mindfulness that this lightweight tale would reach a greater, less demanding audience at home. This isn’t a bad movie, just an absolutely inconsequential one. This was particularly disappointing for fans of Harrison Ford, who was coming off of Air Force One and was treated to this sub-par television movie material.
When city slicker Robin (Anne Heche) has to leave her vacation and new fiance (David Schwimmer) for a four-day job in Tahiti, she is forced to hire a pilot, Quinn (Harrison Ford), to charter her to the remote location. While en route, lighting strikes the plane and strands the pair on a deserted island. Now, they must work together to avoid poisonous predators, pirates, and rough terrain in order to survive. That’s not to say there isn’t time to spend navel gazing as the attractive actors begin to fall for one another. Meanwhile, Robin’s distraught soon-to-be husband can’t keep his attention off the stunning Angelica (Jacqueline Obradors). It’s Schwimmer who delivers the film’s few chuckles, as his morally loose character can’t keep his hands off of Obradors, who is a sexier, more talented version of Salma Hayek.
As with most of my peers, I was a big Harrison Ford fan growing up. His iconic roles are part of my childhood obsession with cinema, but as I’ve grown older, I can’t help but notice just how curmudgeonly he appears in his films. It’s hard to enjoy a movie or a performer when they don’t seem to be enjoying the job. Bruce Willis is another example of this trend, as is Steven Seagal. However, the spunky presence of Anne Heche, who is probably more remembered for her personal life than her acting roles, does a fantastic job not only holding the screen with the cranky Ford but also adding energy and sex appeal to an otherwise dull flick. A by-the-numbers affair for all involved.
Director: Ivan Reitman
Stars: Harrison Ford, Anne Heche, David Schwimmer