Island Getaway
Six Days, Seven Nights Offers Romantic Charm

Six Days, Seven Nights, the new romantic/comedy from director Ivan Reitman, harkens back to the simpler days of Hollywood filmmaking, when the studios reigned and leading stars mattered more than advertising and marketing. This film, which pairs Harrison Ford with Anne Heche (Volcano), could easily have been written for Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn.

Heche plays Robin Monroe, a magazine editor from New York who steals away with her boyfriend Frank (played by David Schwimmer from "Friends") to an island retreat. Ford plays the charter pilot, Quinn, whose small plane hops them to the South Pacific island of Makatea where Frank sets the mood to pop the big question.

Suddenly Heche's professional life interferes when her boss asks her to fly to Tahiti and oversee a photo shoot for the magazine. Reluctantly she agrees, but Frank refuses to go along for contrived reasons necessary to advance the story. Offering Quinn $700 to fly her to Tahiti, they take off in unfavorable weather, only to be faced with a storm that crashes them onto a deserted island.

In finding themselves stranded, the duo must face the consequence of a possible long-term situation and attempt to make peace despite their clashing personalities. The peace is broken intermittently, but they soon learn to accept their situation and rely on each other for support. Quinn's attempts to get them off the island are repeatedly thwarted, and the situation turns grim when they discover pirates hijacking a yacht in one of the island's coves.

There is a undeniable charm in seeing Ford and Heche bicker and snip at each other only to be caught staring when the other isn't looking. While Ford is clearly Heche's senior by a couple of decades, they have a chemistry which is difficult to find on screen nowadays. Ford is my favorite actor still working today. He has a macho, tough-guy attitude that every man wants to emulate. Heche -- whose big, blue eyes are almost hypnotic on the screen -- has a sweetness which makes her instantly likeable.

The story of Six Days, Seven Nights is light and romantic, but there is also a good dose of humor as well. The dialogue is snappy and fresh, and the scenes between Ford and Heche are particularly well-scripted. It is some of this dialogue which reminded me so much of Grant and Hepburn, particularly when the fighting gave way to an attempt at reconciliation.

The film suffers, however, from the secondary story involving Frank and Angelica (Jacqueline Obradors) as they join the search and rescue team to look for Robin and Quinn. This storyline is distracting and ultimately inconsequential. The time could have been spent better developing Quinn and Robin's characters, which are often two-dimensional. I also think more time should have been spent to build the romance between Quinn and Robin which (when it inevitably comes) seems abrupt.

As a refreshing break from the mayhem of summer films, Six Days, Seven Nights may become a hit, especially with the non-teenage crowd. It's a sweet, romantic movie, even if it's a little too light to be taken seriously.

MY RATING: 5 out of 10.

RATED:
RUN TIME: 101 min.

Island Getaway Six Days, Seven Nights Offers Romantic Charm

Island Getaway
Six Days, Seven Nights Offers Romantic Charm