Six Degrees of Separation

Rating:
Summary: 5 stars but no English subtitles!
Review: Without copying what others have already written about this beautifully crafted and cast movie.... I feel I need to add an important point. For some unknown reason, the DVD version of this movie does not come with English subtitles. This makes some of the dialogue hard to catch, especially if your hearing isn't what it used to be. Nevertheless, a magnificient movie!

Rating:
Summary: too-clever adaption of the play
Review: You can read other reviews for the plot but in conclusion I found this adaptation of the play not to work as well as it could. While the individually performances by title cast are exceptionally strong, the unbalanced parody of the stereotypes diminishes the piece: The shallow, smug socialite is not shallow enough, the disaffected, spoilt child is too shrill, the poor prospective conman too composed - its as though the film cannot decide whether to be more farcical or more serious. Direction aside, the main themes of the story reach conclusion midway through from which point it begins to wander and in the end, the continuing relationship between the Kittredges and Paul, in particular Ouisa Kittredge's revelation about her perceived connection, feel too contrived.
In part a self-proclaimed social commentary, the film adaptation also overlooks the opportunity to properly contrast the existing class division's between Paul and the Kittredge party, concentrating instead on the pseudo intellectualizing conversations - which Paul adeptly mimics/takes on - of the Manhattan social elite (i.e. the clever part). Having said that, it was a worthy attempt and it certainly *is* worth watching: there is a lot to take away from the film which by the way also has some great cinematic pans of New York City.