The Sixth Man (1997)

One of my all time favorites.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

As a child I loved the movie The 6th Man. I probably hold the world record for the most viewings of this movie so for that reason I think I should write a review of it. As I said I loved this movie as a kid but now that I'm older I realize the many flaws it has, though I still understand what I liked so much about it when I was younger.The 6th Man is a rare combination of comedy and drama. It doesn't transition between the two very well and I think that accounts for its less than stellar average rating. For the first 30 minutes or so The 6th Man is a great drama with some of the best basketball action you'll ever see. Antoine is a likable character and dies tragically. Kenny deals with his brother's death. A very heartbreaking story. It could have been a great drama if it had stuck to that. Then it violently switches to comedy, back to drama, and back to comedy so many times I am sure that is what turns off a lot of people. It doesn't turn me off, but it's one of the clear weaknesses.After the movie switches to a comedy you are given a lot of hit and miss jokes, mostly involving invisible Antoine doing poltergeist stunts and freaking people out. Some of the jokes are hilarious. Personally I love the scene where Antoine goes into the painting and kicks the guy fishing into the pond. Its undoing in the comedic aspect of this movie is that it goes back to the poltergeist stuff too often. It becomes repetitive and it takes away from the serious drama that we saw for the first 30 minutes.The basketball action in The 6th Man is among the best you will ever see. A lot of the actors in this movie were basketball players and went on to never act again. It shows both in the quality of their acting and the quality of the basketball. Travis Ford (Danny O'Grady) and Jack Karuletwa (Luther LaSalle) both put on lousy acting performances but were good on the court. Lorenzo Orr (Malik Major) also never acted again, but he seemed like he had potential as a comedic actor.The 6th Man is a very worth watching drama/comedy. The main undoing of the movie is that it seemed like it couldn't decide which one it wanted to be. As a fan of basketball, a fan of dramas, and a fan of comedies I can understand why I still enjoy watching this. It brings something to the table in all three areas.

This is a truly great film. It has been under rated. It showed Marlon's potential as an academy award winning actor. This film is a tear jerker and pulls on the heart strings at the right moments. A perfect mixture of comedy and drama. Dramady. I would recommend this film for any family. I am surprised that Marlon hasn't used this film as a step ladder to further his dramatic feature film career. I'll keep hope alive. Kadeem was great to. I just found out I must complete at least ten lines in this review. Well, the supporting cast was cool. They were not the best actors in the world (team) but they served the purpose. The screenwriters should be proud of this film no matter what Hollywood says.

There's nothing more worst then losing a sibling especially with one you grew up with. This movie is real touching especially when the teammates gave a moment of silence and hung up his jersey. A real tear-jerker. Then it became humorous when they were winning games by the help of Antione's ghost and kidding around with his younger brother. The movie is often silly at times but enjoying.

This movie is excellent. It is hilarious and has great drama. Kadeem Hardison and Marlon are just as convincing as brothers as Marlon is with his real life brother Shawn on "The Wayans Bros." The acting was great, the comedy was great, and the writing was great. This is the film that made me look at Marlon Wayans as more than just a funny guy, but also as a very talented actor. I give this movie a 10.