Up Close & Personal (1996)

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Excellent, a Must See

The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

How do you put Robert Redford and Michelle Pfeiffer in a movie together and make it terrible? By writing a God-awful story about a lousy weather girl who wants to be taken seriously as a journalist.An older, experienced reporter takes her under his wing, and then they fall in love. It's not unbelievable that they fall in love—after all, they're both beautiful people—but Michelle Pfeiffer as a career woman? Not the most credible casting in the world. The script is mediocre, the romance is boring, and the ending is terrible. Plus, you'll have to sit through Michelle singing "The Impossible Dream" in the middle of an empty amphitheater. Singing in Grease 2 and The Fabulous Baker Boys is one thing, but Man of La Mancha is a little out of her talent bracket.

I don't know how anyone could watch this movie and not love it. The line up of actors in the move are amazing and maybe that's why some people expected a different kind of movie. The movie moves a long perfectly, telling the story in a great time line. It doesn't drag and there is not one part of the story that doesn't fit. It's as if a friend is telling you the main highlights of a friends' love life. I gave it a ten - Redford an Pfieffer make a great, believable couple and you can tell they put their heart into this movie. They both play people who are intelligent and aren't afraid to fight for what they believe it, something we all strive for. Get a tissue, you'll need it.

As someone who works in the news business, I cringe, laugh and cry when I watch Up Close and Personal. It bears almost no resemblance except for a broad outline of what life in local and network TV news is all about. Broadcast News is a far more apt portrayal of the real pressures of a newsroom. And yet, Up Close and Personal is more fun to watch, especially on a rainy afternoon with a big bucket of popcorn and some Kleenex nearby. Robert Redford, Stockard Channing and Kate Nelligan give good performances while Joe Mantegna has one of the most delightful character names ever in a movie: Bucky Terranova. Michelle Pfeiffer is the weakest link and her prison scenes are ludicrous, but her Miami wardrobe and hair are stunning. She plays well off Robert Redford, who for once loses his wooden quality and actually seems to have some chemistry with her. It's hard to imagine that Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne actually wrote this movie, since it's such a potboiler and nothing like their finest work. But on the other hand, it proves that they really were romantics. I put this in the same category as "The Best of Everything" and "Designing Woman" (the original, starring Lauren Bacall.) You can't call them great movies, but they have charm of their own.

What began life as the turbulent story of the late newscaster Jessica Savitch was re-written and revised so many times it now resembles no one, living or dead. It's just another "Star Is Born" rehash, with big stars slumming in soap-ville. Pretty upstart (Michelle Pfeiffer) in the TV-news biz becomes a network anchorwoman, but her romantic relationship with a handsome colleague (Robert Redford) causes problems. Strictly on its hand-me-down terms, the film is a gusty, guilty pleasure, something to watch to kill time, and Pfeiffer works well (as always) even under the most hokey circumstances. However, the best performance is turned in by Stockard Channing as a no-nonsense hard-nose; poor Redford looks like he might be ill at any moment. ** from ****