How many times have you seen this formula played out on the screen: gruff, coarse older man and smart, sassy younger woman are trapped together by circumstance, at first don't get along well, but become mutually attracted through their shared effort to survive a crisis?
If this doesn't sound familiar, then you just haven't seen many movies. Memorable versions of the formula include Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn in The African Queen, but there have been so many kicks at this particular can, it's become pretty dented over the years.
For some reason, director Ivan Reitman decided to have yet one more go, and that's a shame. If all the talent and money devoted to Six Days, Seven Nights had instead gone into something more fresh and original, they could have had a much better film on their hands.
Harrison Ford plays Quinn Harris, a crusty middle aged pilot who flies his small charter plane from Tahiti to nearby smaller islands. Anne Heche plays Robin Monroe, New York magazine editor and generally uptight career woman. The two experience a plane crash together and then must find ways to survive and escape a deserted tropical island.
Six Days, Seven Nights is a harmless film that pushes nobody's limits. Everything that happens is entirely predictable, so even the good chemistry between Ford and Heche can't save it from seeming like really old news. Yes, there are funny moments, and the tropical settings are beautiful and competently filmed. But that's about as much positive we can say.