Up Close And Personal

[1996, Movie]

Up Close And Personal: Review

Eye of the storm: Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert Redford

What began as a Jessica Savitch biopic somehow ends up as a loose remake of A STAR IS BORN, and it's a little disturbing how easily the world of television news stands in for Hollywood's dream factory. Robert Redford, essaying his first romantic lead in six years (remember HAVANA?), plays a seasoned TV reporter who takes Michelle Pfeiffer under his wing, transforming her from small-town rube to polished anchorwoman in a few easy lessons. The inevitable romance is reasonably engaging, though it's unlikely to supplant THE WAY WE WERE in the hearts of movie sentimentalists. There's some smart dialogue here and there (courtesy of screenwriters Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne), but not much of a narrative line: The whole thing peters out with some unpersuasive melodramatics involving a prison riot.