SIX DAYS, SEVEN NIGHTS

"SIX DAYS, SEVEN NIGHTS"
(1998) (Harrison Ford, Anne Heche) (PG-13)

Alcohol/ Drugs	Blood/Gore	Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude	Frightening/ Tense Scenes	Guns/ Weapons
Heavy	Mild	Heavy	Moderate	Heavy

Imitative Behavior	Jump Scenes	Music (Scary/Tense)	Music (Inappropriate)	Profanity
Minor	Minor	Moderate	None	Heavy

Sex/ Nudity	Smoking	Tense Family Scenes	Topics To Talk About	Violence
Moderate	None	None	Mild	Heavy

QUICK TAKE:: Drama/Adventure: A gruff cargo pilot and a high-strung magazine editor find themselves stranded on a remote, tropical island after their plane is forced down in a storm.

PLOT:

Robin Monroe (ANNE HECHE) is a driven, high-strung magazine editor living in New York. When her longtime boyfriend, Frank Martin (DAVID SCHWIMMER), tells her they'll be leaving the cold and snow of Manhattan and heading off for a vacation paradise on a tropical island, she's ecstatic. Boarding a tiny plane owned by cargo pilot Quinn Harris (HARRISON FORD), the two lovebirds arrive at their tropical destination where Frank immediately proposes to Robin.

An unexpected and emergency work deadline, however, forces Robin to hire Quinn to fly her to Tahiti for a one-day photo shoot. Along the way, a severe storm forces down their plane on a remote and uncharted tropical island, damaging its landing gear and ensuring that they cannot take off again or radio for help. Hearing that the plane never arrived at its destination, Frank begins to fret and takes comfort in the company of Quinn's shapely girlfriend, Angelica (JACQUELINE OBRADORS), as both wonder what happened to their respective mates.

Realizing that they may be stranded for a long time, Robin and Quinn try to make the best of their situation. Although they're exact opposites and initially get on each other's nerves, the two slowly begin to fall for each other as they must deal with various dangers and figure out how to get off the island.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?: If they're fans of anyone in the cast, it's a good possibility.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG-13: For language, sensuality and brief violence.

CAST AS ROLE MODELS:: HARRISON FORD plays a gruff, but carefree cargo pilot who occasionally gets drunk and falls in love with a woman after being marooned on a remote island.
ANNE HECHE plays a high-strung magazine editor who falls for that cargo pilot despite having just gotten engaged to her boyfriend.
DAVID SCHWIMMER plays that boyfriend who sleeps with the pilot's girlfriend due to stress, alcohol, and lack of better judgement.
JACQUELINE OBRADORS plays the pilot's carefree girlfriend who also drinks and sleeps with Frank without thinking anything of it.; ANNE HECHE plays a high-strung magazine editor who falls for that cargo pilot despite having just gotten engaged to her boyfriend.
DAVID SCHWIMMER plays that boyfriend who sleeps with the pilot's girlfriend due to stress, alcohol, and lack of better judgement.
JACQUELINE OBRADORS plays the pilot's carefree girlfriend who also drinks and sleeps with Frank without thinking anything of it.; DAVID SCHWIMMER plays that boyfriend who sleeps with the pilot's girlfriend due to stress, alcohol, and lack of better judgement.
JACQUELINE OBRADORS plays the pilot's carefree girlfriend who also drinks and sleeps with Frank without thinking anything of it.; JACQUELINE OBRADORS plays the pilot's carefree girlfriend who also drinks and sleeps with Frank without thinking anything of it.

CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE

OUR TAKE: 6.5 out of 10

Playing out like any number of "opposites attract" stories, Harrison Ford's latest starring vehicle offers enough lightweight romance, laughs, and adventure to make it an easy summer favorite. This film, which often looks and feels like the old romantic "dramedies" from the 40's and 50's, however, is in no ways a great cinematic effort. As long as you don't scrutinize it too closely, though, it's certainly an enjoyable but mindless diversion to wile away nearly two hours in a darkened theater.

The film has received its fair share of press regarding the chemistry between the leads and whether actress Anne Heche -- a self-proclaimed lesbian -- can convincingly play opposite Ford as his heterosexual love interest. Provided that you don't let any preconceived notions skew your opinion of her performance, the answer is yes, it's believable -- even when taking into account the leads' substantial age difference.

Overall, Heche ("Volcano," "Wag The Dog") delivers a winning take on her daffy character. Although Robin's behavior is occasionally grating to the point of near irritation -- particularly her prescription drug induced wackiness during the pivotal plane crash scene -- for the most part she's quite enjoyable.

As he's done throughout most of his career, Harrison Ford ("Air Force One," the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" series) delivers yet another winning performance. Perfectly playing the gruff, but resourceful pilot, Ford thankfully isn't required to act much younger or tougher than his age, and that age "limitation" plays well to his advantage.

David Schwimmer ("Kissing A Fool," TV's "Friends") is initially good as the boyfriend who gets left behind and he gets to deliver some funny material. Unfortunately, his character becomes too unrealistic as the story progresses -- even for a picture like this -- and he becomes more irritating than humorous. Jacqueline Obradors ("The Waiter") rounds out the last of the main characters and does an able job portraying the well-endowed and bubbly "other woman."

Director Ivan Reitman ("Dave," the "Ghostbuster" movies) and screenwriter Michael Browning (his first produced screenplay) have fashioned an old-time, romantic drama that harkens back to similar films released a half century ago. Both leads are strong, independent, and attractive characters whose differences not only generate some funny, verbal jabs at each other, but also the predictable romance between the two.

While a few moments feature some hackneyed exchanges between the leads -- such as some forced, exposition-based dialogue that often pops up out of nowhere -- most of the moments are quite enjoyable. The scenes between Frank and Angelica back on the original island, however, don't work that well and mainly seem to serve as filler so that Quinn and Robin have time to move around their uncharted island and encounter obstacles, danger and, of course, romance.

A romantic adventure featuring disparate characters and set in a tropical locale will no doubt draw comparisons to "Romancing The Stone," the 1984 vehicle starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner. Both feature the gruff, resourceful macho man paired with the more dignified, big city woman and the conflict-generated sparks that eventually lead to romance. Overall, however, "Romancing" (directed by a pre "Back To The Future" and "Forrest Gump" Robert Zemeckis) is a far superior film with more adventure, laughs, and a better developed plot.

Even so, this picture is an easy pill to swallow as long as you don't go in with lofty expectations of seeing a great or original film. With decent performances from the attractive leads and enough laughs, adventure and wonderful, tropical locales, this film is the equivalent of consuming a Slurpee during the summer. It's colorful, looks good and is fun to ingest, but it doesn't fully satiate one's appetite and it melts rather quickly if you inspect it for too long. We give "Six Days, Seven Nights" a 6.5 out of 10.

OUR WORD TO PARENTS:: Here's a quick look at the film's content. All of the main characters get drunk or tipsy at one moment or another during the film, especially the one played by Harrison Ford. Some pirates show up and execute a man and then repeatedly try to kill the leads, all of which results in some chase scenes that may be tense to some viewers.
Two of the characters have sex, and while we don't see the act, it's briefly discussed and there is some brief nudity along with many other instances of abundant cleavage. Profanity is heavy with 1 "f" word and quite a few uses of the "s" word and others. Since many kids will probably want to see this film, we suggest that you look through the content to determine whether it's appropriate for them or for anyone else in your home.

ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE: People drink wine in a restaurant.
Quinn is drunk (literally falling down) and doesn't remember having just flown Robin and Frank to the island.
Frank and Robin have "tropical" drinks, and others drink as well in several scenes on the island.
Robin acts loopy after taking some prescription pills for tension.
After crashing on the remote island, Quinn drinks liquor straight from the bottle.
Later, Robin admits that she's a bit tipsy after they've had more of that liquor. The next morning, she finds Quinn asleep with his arm around the open bottle.
Some pirates drink liquor from a bottle.
Frank and Angelica have drinks and later are drunk (and have sex partially because of that).

BLOOD/GORE: Quinn's chest is a little bloody after a nearby explosion injures him. Later, his shirt is rather bloody.
Robin has a (non-bloody) cut on her forehead.

DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE: Robin's boss has both for making her work while on vacation, and some may see Robin having both for agreeing to do so after having just gotten engaged the night before.
Quinn and Robin exchange snide remarks to each other due to their inherit differences, but also from the stress of being stranded together on a remote island with little hope of ever leaving.
A group of pirates has both for killing a man and taking his ship, as well as for continually trying to kill Quinn and Robin.
The foursome (Quinn, Robin, Frank and Angelica) has both for getting romantically involved with the others (especially Robin and Frank who just got engaged to each other).

FRIGHTENING SCENES: Younger viewers may find the scene where a bad storm forces the plane to crash land on a remote island at night as a little tense.
Some viewers may be unsettled when Robin, standing in waist high water, announces that something -- she believes it's a snake -- has swum into her pants (although this is played more for laughs than suspense).
Robin and Quinn suddenly fall through a hole and slide down the inside of a hill.
We briefly see that Robin has a scorpion on her head (that Quinn removes).
Some pirates execute a man via a gunshot and dump his body overboard (seen through binoculars).
Quinn and Robin witness that execution and then try to flee (in a rowboat) from pirates who gain on them in a motorboat and shoot machine guns at them. Back on the island, the pirates continue to chase them (for several minutes) and fight with them as well. Later, the pirates capture the two who manage to escape and then leap from a high precipice into the water below.
Quinn is briefly pulled through some rapids, but is okay.
Quinn and Robin try to get off the island while the pirates fire mortar shots at them that explode nearby.

GUNS/WEAPONS: Handguns/Machine guns/Mortars: Used to threaten or kill people. See "Violence" for details.

IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR: Phrases: "Jerk," "Babe" (what Quinn calls Robin in one scene), "Screw up," "Oh, nuts," "Pissed it away," "Scum" and "Nuts" (crazy).
Robin gives Quinn "the finger" after he slightly mocks her (for inflating a raft inside their tiny plane).

JUMP SCENES: A pig suddenly startles Robin (and made the woman next to me jump from her seat).

MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE): A moderate amount of suspense and chase music occurs during several scenes in the film.

MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE): None.

PROFANITY: There may be more than the following since in one scene Quinn goes off into some bushes and curses a lot, but most of what he says can't be understood.
At least 1 "f" word, 14 "s" words, 2 slang terms for breasts (the "t" word), 4 hells, 3 damns, 2 asses, 2 S.O.B.'s, 1 crap, and 12 uses of "G-damn," 11 of "Oh my God," 9 of "Oh God," 4 of "God" and 1 use of "Jesus" as exclamations.

SEX/NUDITY: We see quite a bit of cleavage of a model posing during a photo shoot.
Angelica shows a lot of cleavage in many of the outfits she wears.
We see a few women in skimpy bikinis on the island (that show part of their bare butts or lots of cleavage).
Responding to a teaser headline from Robin's magazine, Quinn says, "You know how a woman gets a man excited? She shows up. We're guys. We're easy."
We see just part of the side of Angelica's bare butt as she does a slightly sensual dance on stage during a performance.
Robin occasionally shows some cleavage in the outfits she wears and we see just a brief glimpse of the side of her breast as she changes clothes.
While commenting on Robin's bad points (including being opinionated and stuck up), Quinn says, "Your ass is too narrow, your t*ts are too small." She later comments that there's nothing wrong with them.
As Quinn puts his hand down inside Robin's shorts (underwater, and to remove a snake that's swum in there -- we don't see anything), she says, "I better not catch you smiling."
Drunk, Angelica and Frank have sex. While we don't see the act, we see her removing her clothing down to a thong bikini bottom and removing her top (we see most of her bare butt as well as her covering her breasts that she's shown to Frank). The next morning we see her wake him up in her bed and he asks, "What did I do and how many times...?" She then tries to explain to him that they're going through a hard time and that "Like after a funeral, everybody has sex." Later, as Frank confesses to Robin, she asks, "You slept with Angelica." He responds, "Who slept? Are you kidding?"

SMOKING: None.

TENSE FAMILY SCENES: None.

TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT: Being stranded on a remote, tropical island.
That Robin and Frank fooled around with others despite having just gotten engaged.

VIOLENCE: A pirate executes a man with a gunshot.
The pirates shoot machine guns at Quinn and Robin, tearing up their inflatable raft.
Quinn knocks several pirates down and then kicks, punches and hits them with a large tree branch (Robin does the same). One of the pirates then grabs Robin and another punches Quinn with a shot to the kidneys. They then hold their guns on the two and later shoot at them again as they escape.
The pirates repeatedly fire mortar shots at Quinn and Robin that explode around them. One of them lands near Quinn, injuring him. Later, the pirate ship is blown up from a mortar landing on it.

Reviewed June 8, 1998

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