SIX DAYS SEVEN NIGHTS (1998) - Movie Review

Director: Ivan Reitman
Starring: Harrison Ford, Anne Heche, David Scwhimmer, Jacqueline Obradors, Temuera Morrison, Cliff Curtis, Danny Trejo, Allison Janney
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy
Writer: Michael Browning
Runtime: 102 min
Rated: Rated PG-13 for language, sensuality and brief violence
Buy This Movie: DVD (Amazon), Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV

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Synopsis:

Big-screen favorite Harrison Ford stars in this nonstop adventure hit about a dream vacation that turns into a hilarious tropical nightmare! A gruff, rough-hewn cargo pilot living in the islands, Quinn Harris (Ford) hates tourists ... though he's not above making a fast buck from a sharp-tongued New Yorker, Robin Monroe (sexy Anne Heche -- VOLCANO, WAG THE DOG), when she's desperate for a quick flight to Tahiti! But this already uneasy relationship suddenly takes a nosedive when his weather-beaten old plane is forced down in a storm! Now, stranded together on a deserted isle, Quinn and Robin quickly discover all the perils of paradise. As this mismatched pair find themselves facing danger at every turn, you're sure to find their misfortunes fueling one of Hollywood's most entertaining action-comedy hits in years!

Review:

The romantic adventure comedy "Six Days Seven Nights" is mostly a forgotten item of the 1990s, and for good reason. "Ghostbusters" director Ivan Reitman has had a mixed track record directing films in the 90s and 2000s. While I have a deep affection for his 2001 sci-fi comedy "Evolution", it's not a particularly great movie, but it's also the closest he's ever gotten to replicating the "Ghostbusters" formula, perhaps even closer than the newer installments in the franchise. Reitman also gave us other classics like "Meatballs", "Stripes" and "Dave", but also misfires like "Twins", "Ghostbusters II", "Kindergarten Cop", "Junior", "Father's Day" and "My Super Ex-Girlfriend".

"Six Days Seven Nights" is perhaps not as offensively bad as some of his worst movies, but it does commit the sin of being entirely forgettable. As I'm writing this, I've already forgotten a great deal of it. Plot-wise it's pretty basic. Reitman just gets Anne Heche and Harrison Ford to run around an island looking hot and sweaty for the better part of 90 minutes. The two actors have a decent amount of unforced charm, but the romantic chemistry is just not there. The age gap between the who (Harrison 56, Heche 29) is also a pretty big problem that the movie never manages to overcome.

The writing is weaksauce, wasting ample opportunities to give the characters anything funny or interesting to say, and you can forget about making their survival realistic. The characters themselves are thin and cliched, as if having two charismatic actors was enough to fill in the gaps in the script, and the romance is unconvincing. If you've seen the trailer, you already know that pirates show up and try to kill our protagonists. They are played by Temuera Morrison ("The Book of Boba Fett"), Cliff Curtis ("The Meg", "Avatar: The Way of Water"), and Danny Trejo ("Heat", "Machete") who are criminally underused. It would have helped if the movie expanded on these characters a lot more, had them show up earlier in the movie, and made them more of a threat.

At the very least, it's lighthearted fun you can enjoy on a rainy afternoon with your brain turned off. It's a good looking movie with a charming score by Randy Edelman, and it's tightly paced so it never gets boring. It's not one of Reitman's best, but not quite one of his absolute worst, either.

SCORE: 6/10