Up Close & Personal

Play trailer

Up Close & Personal

PG-13

Released Mar 1, 1996

2h 4m

Romance

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

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.

Watch on Fandango at Home

Stream Now

Critics Consensus

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

Read Critics Reviews

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

Full Review

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

Full Review

Mike Clark

USA Today

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.

Rated: 2.5/4

Jan 1, 2000

Full Review

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

Full Review

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

Full Review

Charles Cassady

Common Sense Media

Glitz! Glamour! Love! TV news ethics?

Rated: 2/5

Dec 15, 2010

Full Review

Read all reviews

Ed .

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?

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

08/29/25

Full Review

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

Full Review

Steve D

The cast is good. The film is not.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/15/23

Full Review

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

Full Review

lanfranco c

A very conventional movie. Nothing new about the press.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

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

Full Review

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

Jon Avnet

Director

Robert Redford

Warren Justice

Michelle Pfeiffer

Sally

Stockard Channing

Marcia McGrath

Joe Mantegna

Bucky Terranova

Kate Nelligan

Joanna Kennelly

Mad Love

32%

49%

Mad Love

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Mad Love

A Walk in the Clouds

46%

75%

A Walk in the Clouds

Watchlist

Hope Floats

27%

72%

Hope Floats

Watchlist

Message in a Bottle

32%

66%

Message in a Bottle

Watchlist

Swept From the Sea

28%

76%

Swept From the Sea

Watchlist

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

View more photos

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

Most Popular at Home Now