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Up Close & Personal

Play trailer Poster for Up Close & Personal PG-13 1996 2h 4m Romance Play Trailer Watchlist
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32% Tomatometer 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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Up Close & Personal

Up Close & Personal

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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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Critics Reviews

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David Ansen Newsweek 02/23/2018
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. Go to Full Review
Gene Siskel Chicago Tribune 01/16/2013
1/4
Is it worse as a love story or as a drama about the sorry state of television news? The answer: It's a tie. Go to Full Review
Mike Clark USA Today 01/01/2000
2.5/4
This is one of those untaxing time-killers where you spend a lot of time pondering which of its actress's changing hairstyles you like best. Go to Full Review
Wesley Lovell Cinema Sight 12/04/2022
3/4
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. Go to Full Review
Armond White National Review 12/04/2020
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." Go to Full Review
Charles Cassady Common Sense Media 12/15/2010
2/5
Glitz! Glamour! Love! TV news ethics? Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Jonathann G @JonGot26 3d Romance y superación. Al estilo pigmalión See more Matthew D @OceanSage Nov 7 Michelle Pfeiffer is adorable and sympathetic as a reporter hopeful to be taken seriously. Director Jon Avnet’s romance drama Up Close & Personal (1996) is very cute and compelling. Avnet’s direction cares for his characters, so we’re always following their feelings. Writers Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne show us how stories are picked at this news station, how their careers develop, besides how a relationship develops. You see how awful, selfish, opinionated, jealous, and cutthroat the news station types can be in their day to day lives. Celine Dion’s theme song “Because You Loved Me” really captures the romance and tenderness herein. Casting director David Rubin cast a neat ensemble for these hectic newsrooms. Michelle Pfeiffer is wonderful and touching as the young reporter Tally Atwater, who changes her personality, hair, and even her name to try to appeal to people as a real face on the news. Pfeiffer feels so natural, sorrowful, and passionate in her acting that I felt real empathy for her. Everyone is so awful to her and she keeps being brave. She has to stutter, be nervous, get insulted with a brave face, find herself, defend her opinions, and be affectionate with her lover. She has romantic chemistry with Robert Redford. Robert Redford is interesting as the very uptight and tough news station boss Warren Justice, who softens up as he mentors Tally, while falling in love with her. Redford feels harsher and more blunt than his usual charming characters. He’s not very likable, but a realistic depiction of a cutthroat news organizer. Stockard Channing is so mean as the jealous reporter Marcia McGrath. It’s fun once Pfeiffer replaces Channing. Joe Mantegna is good as Bucky Terranova, who hires new news people. Kate Nelligan is great as Redford’s snarky ex-wife Joanna Kennelly, who runs another news agency. Glenn Plummer is so nice as Pfeiffer’s cameraman Ned Jackson, who helps her out when she’s starting out. James Rebhorn is compelling as Pfeiffer’s boss John Merino, who gives her a chance to be her own reporter on her own program. Raymond Cruz is fierce as criminal Fernando Buttanda. Dedee Pfeiffer gets a nice role as Pfeiffer’s abused sister Luanne Atwater. Miguel Sandoval is tough as Redford’s disgruntled boss Dan Duarte. Noble Willingham is amusing in his cameo as network boss Buford Sells. Editor Debra Neil-Fisher’s slick cuts and cinematographer Karl Walter Lindenlaub’s captivating close-ups keep us focused on the characters. The moody lighting is romantic like composer Thomas Newman’s gentle film score. Albert Wolsky’s costumes for Michelle Pfeiffer are very pretty like Fern Buchner, Ronnie Specter, Gary Liddiard, and Alex Proctor’s makeup work. Hairstylists Alan D'Angerio, Peter Owen, Bunny Parker, and Jasen Joseph Sica do long blonde hair and a sweet brunette look for Michelle Pfeiffer for her heroine’s different appearances. Overall, Up Close & Personal is an enthralling look into newsrooms, but mostly a nice romance between Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert Redford. See more Ed . Aug 29 Perfectly acceptable TV movie. Problem is that this isn't a TV movie, but a sanitized project that made its muse, Jessica Savitch, seem dull. Imagine a dramatic biographically based film leave out illicit drug use, narcissism, abusive relationships, toxic insecurity and alleged bisexuality in exchange for banality. How is it possible that Joan Didion wrote this tallywacker? See more RICHARD S 10/03/2024 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. See more Steve D 02/15/2023 The cast is good. The film is not. See more Brynn H 09/21/2022 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. See more Read all reviews
Up Close & Personal

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Movie Info

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, Cinergi Pictures Entertainment, Avnet/Kerner Productions
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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