Up Close & Personal (1996)

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

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

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Up Close and Personal (1996): Dir: Jon Avnet / Cast: Robert Redford, Michelle Pfeiffer, Glenne Plummer, Stockard Channing, Joe Mantegna: Meant to be the arrow that Cupid shot but ultimately becomes a thorn in the side of sober viewers. Title is a pun onto itself describing physical affection and two journalists. Michelle Pfeiffer lands a job as a news reporter but she falls for her boss played by Robert Redford. This all ends as a tearjerker that is enough to warrant urination on the screen. Director Jon Avnet does what he can with the routine formula. Pfeiffer and Redford are both reduced to props that do nothing more than sleep with each other. Pfeiffer begins with promise using humour to highlight her yearning to succeed but unfortunately she gets lost in the formula. Redford can only walk the familiar path before being sold out on a cheap tear jerker ending. Glenne Plummer plays Pfeiffer's cameraman who gets caught in a prison riot with her. Stockard Channing is wasted in this boring drivel. Joe Mantegna also makes an appearance but if the leads cannot strike any life into this junk, then the supporting players are hardly qualified to fix it. Fans of the genre will discover that this is nothing to get up close and personal with. On the surface it displays news and journalism but underneath it is a lame romance that deserves to get up and personal with the receiving end of a sledgehammer. Score: 2 / 10

Technically this is a well done movie. The scenes are constructed well, the cinematography is excellent, the acting is fine. At the end of the day what one is left with is a LifeTime Movie Network movie. A pretty LMN film that is better than most of the material the network runs...but it is LMN fare.**SPOILER** The end says it all: Cat Woman is at an office farewell party. She is the glory of the party. Everyone hangs on her every word describing the events that have just been witnessed. The TV is turned on and the dramatic build of the death of Jeremiah Johnson occurs where at first Mrs. Montana is the only person to realize who's sole of who's shoe laying on the ground. The dramatic build is heightened by...by...a glass of champagne falling at hitting the ground!!!!! WOW!!!!!!! Then comes the obligatory shameless acting cry and wail. Can't you just feel the tears jerking out of the audience!!!! Play it as it Lays, Michelle, Play it hard. Play it like Susan Lucci! If you think that this is life you need to get one. If you like this soapy teary weepy waily incredibly constructed climax then this is a 10 max film for you.

...the fact that the interaction between the characters at times is very stilted. A particular scene in which Warren Justice (Robert Redford) is telling Tally Atwater (Michelle Pfeiffer) how to put a news story together is particularly telling. Their dialogue is an interaction that has a noticeable pause between each line, and it made me think that perhaps it had not been well directed.The scenes don't always seems a smooth continuance.The sub-story regarding the siege at Holbrook Prison was lengthy and took a large part of the movie. Whilst it portrayed Tally's growing talent and removal from Justice's Svengali-like influence, it, for me, broke the continuancy of the movie.But despite this, the movie really struck a chord with me. It is one of the few movies I bought on DVD that I watch repeatedly. For some enigmatic reason, I love the movie despite the obvious flaws.

This story, and the director who envisioned it have serious flaws and misconceptions about what an audience will accept. And none of this is the fault of the actors. Pfeiffer usually rises above content ("White Oleander" and "Frankie and Johnnie"). And we expect more from Redford.I am very curious why he accepted this role.This film was based on Joan Didion's career as a TV newscaster, and was written by John Gregory Dunne. Didion always delivers (her novel "Play it as it Lays" was unique realism). This movie however, has the worst screenplay I have seen in some time. Joe Mantegna as "Bucky Terranova" a TV bigwig-enough said. Mantegna is limited in scope, and his part in this movie serves as unintentional comedy.Pfeiffer is portrayed in a misogynistic ditzy form- she wears a bright pink suit to interview for a job at a major TV station- she looks more like the Mayflower Madam. The crux of the story is, she is simply trying to make it in the big bad world of TV journalism. I doubt this topic would work today, since most educated audiences realize "correspondents" are talking heads, bought and paid for by slanted political interest groups.As "Tally" (as she is so fondly called by Redford), is helped by him to move up the ladder of success, she is miraculously transferred from Miami to Philadelphia, where people like Stockard Channing reign supreme (i.e. the audience likes to see a woman who can read and speak properly!).An amusing scene is when Tally reports Fernando Buttanda (Ray Cruz) has won a prize for the first New Year baby in Miami. Anyone who has ever lived in South Florida will be laughing at this banality. "Deco Drive" is the most popular TV show in South Florida right now, so a newsgirl reporting fluff would NEVER get a northeastern market unless; ah yes, she is involved with veteran Redford, who has connections.That being said, this movie proves you can have excellent actors, who cannot resurrect bad material. I have liked most of the actors in other projects, (Redford, Nelligan, Pfeiffer and Channing). They should have passed on this one.