YES HE CAN ACT

A Video Review of "Six Degrees of Separation"

Copyright 2002 Glenn Walker

When Will Smith does crap like Bad Boys 2 and the big screen remake of The Wild Wild West it's really hard to remember he is actually quite an accomplished actor. It's just that he shows this skill so rarely.

We see a bit of it in The Legend of Bagger Vance and he shines in Ali although no one really saw these films. Will Smith first showed this spark of genius in Six Degrees of Separation. One can only guess that he made a conscious decision to be an action hero rather than an Oscar winner.

Six Degrees of Separation has a wonderful story structure that leads the viewer through a minor mystery in a unique way. Based on the concept that everyone on earth is only six people away from everyone else on earth it turns out everyone knows someone victimized by Will Smith's con artist character.

Donald Sutherland and Stockard Channing turn in brilliant performances as a couple who take a liking to him and try to seek him out when Smith vanishes from their home. Will himself is a marvel in this part playing the rich folks for suckers and advancing a mythical thesis on "Catcher in the Rye" which actually makes a twisted sort of sense.

Look for an early glimpse of a brunette Heather Graham and yet another quirky role for the adult Anthony Michael Hall.

This is a modern classic, don't miss it.