Customer Reviews

Up Close & Personal [VHS]

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Up Close and Personal does the impossible: it manages to jump from different settings within two hours and shift its plot while keeping the audience wanting more and more. Pfeiffer stars as a reporter, Tally, who has always aspired to make it to the top in television news. Along the way, she meets a veteran newsman, Warren Justice (Robert Redford), who gives her a chance at a reporter. As she begins to mature in her stories and her thirst for knowledge heightens, she begins to turn heads in the news business, and ends up moving from a station in Miami to a station in Philadelphia. All the while, Tally and Warren struggle to keep alive a relationship that both know is inevitable. Performances from all actors are very original and heartfelt, under Jon Avnet's wonderful direction. Thomas Newman's score is brilliant, and fits in at every moment to add to the emotional appeal of the movie. A storyline that never stops moving at times keeps the energy alive, which makes this movie one that will please most people.

Robert Redford starred in one of the undisputed great romance films of all time, The Way We Were. Up Close and Personal takes many aspects of this film plus many other great romance classics, like Pygmalion and A Star is Born.

Sally Atwater (Michelle Pfeiffer) is an ambitious woman who wants to break into the nightly news game. She fakes an audition tape and sends it every news department. She gets a bite from a small station in Miami. Channel 9 news is headed by veteran Warren Justice (Redford). He immediately sees through Sally's disguise but he sees something in her.

Sally keeps on trying and absorbing everything about the news. And one day, the weatherman walks off and Warren puts Sally on (but changes her name to Tally.) Tally is an unmitigated flop but according to Warren "the camera eats her up." Warren takes her under his wing and turns her into a first rate journalist. Eventually, she becomes an anchor.

During a sweeps story at a penitentiary, Tally gets caught up in a prison revolt. But this gives her a unique opportunity, she is the only reporter on the inside. Her coverage goes national and she becomes a media sensation. It's not long before the networks come knocking on her door but Warren has escaped that rat race and is not interested in returning.

With Tally a star, Warren decides that it is time to get back into the game but on his own terms.

This is the return of Redford, the romantic actor. He proves two decades later he still has it. Pfeiffer, like her character, was coming still coming up and this helped prove she could handle a romantic lead. This film also features two great supporting performances from Stockard Channing and Kate Nelligan as two of Warren's exes.

This is a great date film or to watch after a break-up. And it has the only great Celine Dion song - Because You Love Me.

DVD EXTRAS: NONE

This is one of the first movies I can say that I made me cry at the end that I love. Redford and Pfeiffer are AWESOME and it had all the things a movie must have; action, romance, and humor.

This is an absolutely wonderful movie. I have watched it countless times, and I never tire of it. Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert Redford were brilliant in this movie. I love romance, and this movie is entertaining. The storyline kept my interest, and I cried EVERY time I watched it. Each time I watch the movie, I notice more details. When I went to see it at the movies, there wasn't a dry eye in the theater. It was wonderful to see Sally Atwater transform herself into Tally Atwater. She pulled herself up by her boot straps, with a strong, supportive partner by her side. Warren Justice was a strong journalist who refused to sacrifice his integrity or his principles for the network. I liked the way that a clip from one of Redford's movies back in his younger days was used to portray Justice in younger days. The plot and storyline were excellent. I only have one minor detail to speak of. I like Michelle Pfeiffer much better as a blonde. Towards the end of the movie, "Tally" had a makeover and became a brunette. Celine Dion's "Because You Loved Me" was the perfect theme song for the movie. I had never watched very many of Pfeiffer or Redford's movies before, but this definitely made me a fan. I am a journalist/ writer myself, and the movie was excellent. Stockard Channing was also very good in the supporting role. I definitely give this one five stars. I would highly recommend it to anyone.

I honestly cannot see why so many people disliked this movie. It's about a girl who, instead of accepting the life fate has given her, is willing to so anything to make her dreams come true. She doesn't just sit around and dream about it, she gets off her butt and does it, which is probably more than of the reviewers who are dissing her character and calling her weak can say.

I also didn't think the acting was bad at all; it was really good actually. Most of my girlfriends liked this movie. It's kind of a chick flick though.

I must say I'm shocked this film was overlooked when it came to the big awards.

Why do the Oscar voters hate love so much? Is it because they're all shallow phonies out of touch with real human emotion? I think we all know the answer to those questions, right?

Heck, I don't go around calling people names and feeling good about it. But when a film of this caliber is called "drivel" by one critic and "horse manure" by another. It sort of gets my goat, you see where I'm going with this?

And another thing, just because something has a happy ending doesn't mean it's not an artistic success, understood? I could write all day about how real art needs to reflect life and be honest about the miserableness of life, but who wants to read realistic views like that, you follow?

Anyway, Redford really phones in a great performance and Michelle P. is radiant as a TV reporter with mad skills and a questionable attitude.

I rented Up Close and Personal this weekend for the first time. I expected to like it, but not as much as I did. The acting is excellent and the story is extremely entertaining.

Michelle Pfieffer plays Sally Atwater, an aspiring news reporter who gets accepted at a station in Miami. Warren Justice [Robert Redford], her boss, is a hardcore newsman who at first doesn't really care about Sally, but it doesn't take long before he realizes her potential. Sally is at first not a great reporter. In fact, she's a downright laughingstock. But she has definite potential to be great, and Warren helps her realize that. Her name is changed to Tally [after a sort-of amusing incident in a bathroom]and she soon becomes a popular newswoman, going where all the news is happening. She gets to be too good for Miami and is offered a job in Philadelphia as a newsanchor. This presents problems in itself, for she becomes enemy to Miss Marcia [Stockard Channing], who up until Tally came was the toast of the station. But it's not just Tally's problems at work that are bothering her-she and Warren have fallen head over heels for each other [duh!] Most love stories seem to drag on and on [Gone With The Wind, I'm talking to you], but the pacing for this movie was excellent and right on target. The middle gets a little slow, but the pulse rate goes up towards the end as Tally's life becomes endangered when she takes on an assignment at a prison and Warren is watching her terror.

This film is suitable for people of all ages. There is nothing especially provocative that would prevent kids from seeing it. I found the movie enormously entertaining also because I got to see what the life of a reporter is like, and being a reporter is a career I have considered for myself as an adult [I'm 13]. As I mentioned before, the acting is also worth noting. Redford is quite good, but it is Pfieffer who really shines here. Her Tally is perfectly performed, and it's interesting to watch her trnasform from a wanna-be to the one everyone wants. It's also interesting to see her with 3 different hairstyles, as she goes from long blonde to short blonde to classic brunette. This is her movie without a doubt. The ending is somewhat predictable, but that is hardly worth noting considering how wonderful the rest of the movie is. Start popping the popcorn!

I was in high school when i watched this movie. It made me laugh and most of all it made me cry. I really want a DVD copy of this movie, because this is the type of movie that I'll never get tired of watching. They have great actors and actresses on the movie. Salute to the director and the main cast! =)

Up Close & Personal is a wonderful movie. Robert Redford and Michelle Pfeiffer have incredible chemistry together. Ms. Pfeiffer plays Tally Atwater, a young woman who wants to be a news reporter. Mr. Redford plays Warren Justice, the man who teaches Tally all he knows about the business. They realize their love when Tally starts to go places.

Tally sends her resume to stations everywhere, but only WMIA-Miami responds. Warren hires her as his secretary, and finally lets her on-screen as the weather girl. Of course, she fails, but Warren sees her potential. All her hard work pays off when she meets Bucky, an agent who sends her to Philadelphia. Without Warren, though, she can't get the hang of big city news. Bucky talks to Warren about Tally, and he soon flies off to join her.

Tally gets her big network break when she interviews inmates for a special report on prisons. While she is there, a jail break occurs. She is forced to do nation-wide live broadcasts, while Warren sits on the sides, sometimes able to communicate with her and sometimes not.

After she goes to the major network, Warren realizes he needs to get back into the swing of things. He decides to investigate how the people of Panama feel about gaining possesion of the Canal in 1999. What happens next is the real suprise, so I'll let you watch to find out!

Two of the greatest and sexiest movie stars of all time team up in this emotional drama that will drive you to tears. Redford, as always, is impossibly intelligent and indescribably admirable. Pfeiffer steals the show with her beauty and charm and the unforgettable performance of "The Impossible Dream". And the incredible acting of both plus Celine Dion's "Because you love me" make the film a movie classic. It's the story of two people - a young woman in search of a career in television industry, her rise from secretary to weather person and finally a true TV star, and an experienced newsman, who believes in her, helps her rise and falls for her. You'll be shocked in the end.... Don't miss it.