I rented Six Days, Seven Nights.
The film was actually much better than I
anticipated; though I didn't watch the beginning (my girlfriend
watched it as I read) I eventually looked up, saw a scene I
liked, and started watching it.
\Harrison Ford is *so* good at these roles, it
is a crime that he attempts to play any other. Here, he's a
cocky, rogueish pilot (hmmm, where have we seen *that* before?)
who also likes the booze. Heche is -- well, I'm not sure what she
is, since I missed the beginning, but I'm guessing she's a New
York literary agent. Or something like that.
Heche continues to be a rather bad actress,
slightly bizarre looking -- she's got the alien upward-slanting,
oddly-shaped eyes -- but her performance doesn't damn the
picture. It's a Debra Winger kind of role, and Heche is no Debra
Winger. David Schwimmer is quite funny as her schlubbish fiance
(I think he's her fiance, at least).
In the end, however, not a hell of a lot
happens. There's a couple of scenes of trekking through the bush,
the requisite poisonous arachnid (here, a scorpion), and the
requisite statement that you can't see the stars in New York like
you can see them in the wild. (The night sky here is so filled
with bright stars I actually wondered if it was a special effect,
but it isn't.)
In order to pad out the second act, some
Polynesian-looking pirates show up and chase Heche and Ford
around a bit. I didn't mind the premise, but I *did* mind the
Deus ex Machina way in which they were dispatched (they fire an
artillery round STRAIGHT UP, it falls, STRAIGHT DOWN, and blows
up their pirate boat).
Also on hand is an unknown actress with the
hottest body this side of Salma Hayek who acquits herself well.
There are some laughs, there is some scenery,
there are some funny Ford moments (and I ask once again-- Why
can't this man play this kind of comedic semi-heroic role more
often?). The romance doesn't really work, and is pretty pro forma. It's just hard to accept Heche as
Ford's love interest. Ford needs a Karen Allen, and Heche is no
Karen Allen.
