Six Degrees of Separation

'the ultimate movie about the New York cult of class (Glamour), this rich and challenging cinematic treat (Playboy) is both a laugh-out-loud comedy and a biting social commentary about the separation between the 'haves and the 'have-nots. Will Smith gives a mightily impressive debut, Donald Sutherland is perfection and OscarÂ(r)-nominated* Stockard Channing moves from brilliance to somewhere above and beyond brilliance (CBS-TV) in a story that's all the more amazing because it's true! Posing as the son of Sidney Poitier, Paul (Smith) deftly penetrates the world of art-dealing urbanites Ouisa and Flan Kittredge (Channing and Sutherland). But as Paul's web of dropped names and near fame begins to unravel, he provides his hosts with much more than just theultimate cocktail party anecdotehe sets in motion a series of events that will alter the course of their lives forever. *1993: Actress

John Guare's hit Broadway play--about an Upper East Side couple who gets bilked by a young black man claiming to be Sidney Poitier's son--receives a terrific screen translation in this film by Fred Schepisi. Though the play was discursive and episodic, Schepisi, working from Guare's adaptation, makes it all flow like a fascinating evening listening to friends recount something that happened to them. But the story itself is also intriguing for the disparity it reveals between the wealthy, the would-be wealthy, and the have-nots yearning to be rich. Stockard Channing and Donald Sutherland are exceptional as the couple who open their home to a young man they believe is a friend of their children (to whom they barely speak); Will Smith is fascinatingly glib as the young man, who claims that his famous father is casting a film version of Cats and offers his hosts roles as extras in the film. Smith finds the heartbreaking core of this character and Channing is haunting as a woman looking to make a connection, even with a confused young con artist. --Marshall Fine