Up Close and Personal

Starring: Robert Redford, Michelle Pfeiffer, Stockard Channing, Joe Mantegna
Directed by: Jon Avnet
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama, Romance
1996

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: An ambitious TV personality (Michelle Pfeiffer) has dreams of having a career in television. She befriends and grows increasingly closer to her mentor (Robert Redford), an experienced television journalist. Together, he helps her advance her career and fulfills more of her dreams than she ever imagined possible.

Review:

Tim: Up Close and Personal is a movie with an impressive cast featuring strong performances, a well made movie that suffers because of a subpar story. I enjoyed parts of this movie, but as a whole, it leaves quite a bit to be desired. I know the script went through rewrite after rewrite, over the course of years- that feels like part of the problem. The movie works when you look at any individual piece, but when you add all the pieces up, it somehow feels less than it should. This is disappointing.

As I mentioned, the cast is quite good. Michelle Pfeiffer might not have been perfect for the role, but she throws herself into it with charm and energy. I enjoyed her in the role, even though I occasionally lamented her acting ability. Robert Redford, on the other hand, is very good. I liked him as Warren Justice, and I thoroughly enjoyed his screen time. Redford and Pfeiffer get along fairly well on screen together- perhaps better than their 22 year age difference would suggest. There were a few moments when it felt a little creepy, but it works more often than not. The rest of the supporting cast are good, but there aren't really any other standouts. The rest of the cast fades away behind the performances of Redford and Pfeiffer.

In some ways, this movie feels a bit too large for its own good. The movie follows our characters through a number of years, and we start to get lost in all the back-and-forth. The story moves through a number of phases, which aren't all exciting. The movie starts to lose effectiveness the longer it goes on (and at over two hours of run time, it could have been cut in a few places).

I am not entirely sure why Up Close and Personal is less effective than it should be. It feels like it had every reason to work, but the end product simply did not live up to its potential. I am willing to bet that studio interference might have led to changes which corrupted the very heart of the movie. I enjoyed parts of the film, but the movie as a whole left me a bit disappointed. I'd watch this movie for the performances, but the weak story I could do without.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 6



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