Up Close & Personal

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Up Close & Personal

PG-13

Released Mar 1, 1996

2h 4m

Romance

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

32%

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37 Reviews

66%

Popcornmeter

10,000+ Ratings

Warren Justice (Robert Redford), a producer for a Miami news program, watches an audition tape from a young Nevada woman named Sally Atwater (Michelle Pfeiffer) and decides to hire her. Under Warren's mentorship, Sally rises from gofer to on-air personality, and eventually gets a job in Philadelphia, a more prestigious market. There, she tussles with veteran anchorperson Marcia McGrath (Stockard Channing) and lands a story that catapults her to national prominence.

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Critics Consensus

Up Close & Personal wastes its superstar leads and compelling fact-inspired story on a treacly romance bereft of onscreen chemistry.

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David Ansen

Newsweek

What Up Close and Personal" is really about is the chemical reaction set off between Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert Redford. In a love story, if your two stars don't click, all is lost. When they do--as they do here--nothing else really matters.

Feb 23, 2018

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Gene Siskel

Chicago Tribune

Is it worse as a love story or as a drama about the sorry state of television news? The answer: It's a tie.

Rated: 1/4

Jan 16, 2013

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Lisa Schwarzbaum

Entertainment Weekly

Rated: C

Sep 7, 2011

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Wesley Lovell

Cinema Sight

It is an engaging, almost endearing, film with plenty of issues, but none of those problems generate any kind of animus, just a vague sense of disappointment that it wasn’t ever so slightly better.

Rated: 3/4

Dec 4, 2022

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Armond White

National Review

Up Close and Personal isn't even a particularly good movie, but it's more revealing than most other films about the degradation of what used to be called "the press."

Dec 4, 2020

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Charles Cassady

Common Sense Media

Glitz! Glamour! Love! TV news ethics?

Rated: 2/5

Dec 15, 2010

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RICHARD S

One of Redford's last fairly believable romantic leads, his fans will enjoy this. Pfeiffer never looked more beautiful, but her role as an aspiring TV journalist unbelievable for it's lack of even a hint of humility as the story begins, since she has absolutely no credentials. Except for her ravishing beauty, it's hard to see why Redford thinks she has any potential at all. But a nice love story kind of patterned on A Star is Born. Channing's role is quite small and contributes little to the story. But, overall, a nice romantic yarn for a Saturday evening for the Redford-Pfeiffer fans out there.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

10/03/24

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Steve D

The cast is good. The film is not.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/15/23

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Brynn H

An exceptional movie, the likes of which we just don't see anymore. The chemistry between Pfeiffer and Redford is unmatched. It's a must-see for those who love a good romance or have interest in journalism. A great movie makes you think and feel and this movie does both so well. The moment when Tally is watching the television screen as her life is forever changed is one that moves me more than almost any other movie I've see . I'll rewatch this movie for years to come, remembering these two incredible actors and a time when films were very special.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

09/21/22

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lanfranco c

A very conventional movie. Nothing new about the press.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

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Audience Member

Who doesn't want to watch a budding love story about a beautiful 37 year old woman and a 60 year old man?

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/29/23

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Audience Member

Painfully bad acting from Michelle Pfeiffer and weak story.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

01/16/23

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Jon Avnet

Director

Robert Redford

Warren Justice

Michelle Pfeiffer

Sally

Stockard Channing

Marcia McGrath

Joe Mantegna

Bucky Terranova

Kate Nelligan

Joanna Kennelly

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Synopsis

Warren Justice (Robert Redford), a producer for a Miami news program, watches an audition tape from a young Nevada woman named Sally Atwater (Michelle Pfeiffer) and decides to hire her. Under Warren's mentorship, Sally rises from gofer to on-air personality, and eventually gets a job in Philadelphia, a more prestigious market. There, she tussles with veteran anchorperson Marcia McGrath (Stockard Channing) and lands a story that catapults her to national prominence.

Director: Jon Avnet
Producer: Jon Avnet, David Nicksay, Jordan Kerner
Screenwriter: Joan Didion, John Gregory Dunne
Distributor: Buena Vista Pictures
Production Co: Touchstone Pictures, Avnet/Kerner Productions, Cinergi Pictures Entertainment
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 1, 1996, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 1, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA): $51.1M
Runtime: 2h 4m
Sound Mix: Surround, Stereo

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