UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL
A film review by Christopher Null
Copyright 1996 Christopher Null
If nothing else, UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL will remind you just how hideous the hairstyles of the 1980's were, especially among media personalities. Fortunately, the film accomplishes a lot more than that, giving us a nice romance that isn't harmed too much by its attempts at melodrama.
UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL tells the loosely-based-on-reality story of Sally (who becomes Tally) Atwater (Michelle Pfeiffer), a vain upstart girl from Reno who wants to make it big in television. Robert Redford costars as Warren Justice, a Miami news director who gives her her big break and takes her under his wing. Under his influence, Tally is transformed from brash loudmouth to The Next Big Thing, and of course, the two fall madly in love along the way.
With a smart script enhanced by some excellent comic relief, Pfeiffer and Redford work together with a good chemistry. And while there are a few substantial plot gaps as the film tries to do too much in too little time, the exciting climax set in the midst a prison riot makes up for any holes in the movie's continuity.
Still, this isn't NETWORK, and at times UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL really can't decide between being romantic comedy or a tough drama. This unfortunately creates some unevenness and a couple of false endings with a tacked-on tearjerker finale. The supporting cast is also uniformly bland, with Joe Mantegna's talents totally wasted and both Kate Nelligan and Stockard Channing looking very scary and beyond over-the-top as cutthroat "I'm so tough I eat men for breakfast" newswomen.
But there I go, nitpicking again. Altogether, UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL mostly works and only occasionally doesn't. It will certainly be successful as a pleasant spring romance flick with broad appeal, but most importantly, it's a whole lot of fun.
RATING: ***1/2
\-------------------------------\ |* Unquestionably awful | |** Sub-par on many levels | |*** Average, hits and misses | |**** Good, memorable film | |***** Perfection | \-------------------------------\
-Christopher Null / null@utxvms.cc.utexas.edu -Screenwriter / Novelist / Publisher -Visit the Movie Emporium at http://cca2.carrington.com/emporium/ -and e-mail requests to join the movie review mailing list
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