Diagonaldi Very well executed

Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

Lucybespro It is a performances centric movie

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

SnoopyStyle Sally 'Tally' Atwater (Michelle Pfeiffer) is ambitious and green starting out as a local TV reporter in Miami hired by news director Warren Justice (Robert Redford) from her amateur tape. They fall in love as he grooms her rise from weather girl to star reporter in the newsroom. Agent Bucky Terranova (Joe Mantegna) recruits her to a bigger Philadelphia station. She struggles from jabs by jealous anchor Marcia McGrath (Stockard Channing) and unkind public judgment. Warren has been struggling himself. Sensing her despair, he goes to Philadelphia to help her recover.This is loosely based on the late NBC News anchor Jessica Savitch but it has more in common with the play Pygmalion. It's a bit too broad at first with Pfeiffer stumbling awkwardly to portray inexperience. It's so broad that it actually becomes off-putting. There is also the age difference but Pfeiffer and Redford are great enough to overcome it. The plot has much of the formula of a good romance but it just feels false. The actors' cinematic presence helps a lot. In the end, I don't feel it.

vincentlynch-moonoi This is an updated review, having just watched this film for the second time.In reading up on the film, I learned it was supposed to be based on the life of Jessica Savitch, a newscaster I remember quite well, although I forgot how she died. I have a feeling the producers/director were in a damned if we do, and damned if we don't situation here. They were inspired by Savitch's life story, but wanted to make a love story, instead. If they just told the love story, and weren't open about the Savitch angle, they'd be criticized. If they made it clear the story came from the Savitch bio, but didn't make it a documentary/fiction story, they'd be criticized as well. They should have just shut up about where the inspiration for the story came from.I really liked the first third of this film and the last third of this film. The first third was great because it told the story of a wannabe reporter coming up through the ranks to become a respected reporter...led by her mentor (Robert Redford)...and throw in a bit of romance. The last third of the film was great because it was more about what hard-hitting journalism can be. The problem is the middle third where the couple (Redford and Michelle Pfeiffer) seem to fart around in terms of getting a relationship going. I found that middle third to be rather boring. Were they going to go forward as a couple? Yes, no, yes, no, yes, no. Jeez! Hence the "66%".Now there are a lot of people who dislike the ending -- if it's a romantic film, why kill of a main character? If its a hard hitting story about the news, why lean so heavily into romance?Perhaps the problem with the film is that when you begin watching it you think it's one thing -- a romance story with some humor...but then it turns deadly serious.Another thing that would have helped would have been some timelines, particularly in Tally's time in Miami. It was difficult to get a sense of how long it took her to go from desk work, to weather, to reporter, etc.Redford's acting here is superb. Redford, who was pretty much always at the top of his game, was here, also. Michelle Pfeiffer is very good, and the problem with her character seemed to be a petty attitude...but after all, she didn't write the script or direct the film. This is very much Redford's and Pfeiffer's film. Sure there are supporting actors, but none that have memorable roles, although their performances are all very good.It seems as if this film suffered from a bit of an identity confusion. But I still liked it. I just didn't love it.

gradyharp There is an advantage when the fare on television is so bland that the box of purchased DVDs comes out of the closet: some of those oldies are so good that they make the current crop of contemporary comedy/drama love stories inept. Such is the case in viewing the very popular 1996 film UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL, a film whose nidus is Alanna Nash's exposé book 'Golden Girl: The Story of Jessica Savitch' adapted and remolded for the screen by no less than Joan Didion and John Gregroy Dunne, under the careful and tidy direction of Jon Avnet, and starring two of screen's most popular talents Robert Redford and Michelle Pfeiffer. The film suggests the Jessica Savitch story, the newswoman who, in the 1970's, became the "First Woman Anchor". Sally/Tally Atwater (Michelle Pfeiffer) is from the other side of the tracks in Reno who is obsessed with becoming a news star. She fakes her résumé, barges into an important television studio run by the indomitable Warren Justice, fakes is and fails as a weather forecaster, yet is so refreshingly purposeful that she is taken under the wing of Warren in a Miami newsroom, given not only a makeover in appearance, but also the chance to make a difference in a news story involving the sad plight of Cuban exiles swimming to freedom in Florida, and becomes a news star on TV. There is a chemistry between the two and despite Warren's tendency to marry and divorce frequently the two fall in love. Yet despite her love for Warren, she takes the big chance and moves on to Philadelphia, where he follows to rescue her faltering career at the cost of his own - as she rises he falls. It is a love story and more - a Pygmalion reshaping of a true tale. Both Redford and Pfeiffer look and act great and they are surrounded by a fine cast of extras - Stockard Channing, Kate Nelligan, Joe Mantegna, etc. Nice to remember when love stories were not just about potty mouth derring-do, but instead were well written and well crafted little films.Grady Harp

daniellebuchina I don't know how anyone could watch this movie and not love it. The line up of actors in the move are amazing and maybe that's why some people expected a different kind of movie. The movie moves a long perfectly, telling the story in a great time line. It doesn't drag and there is not one part of the story that doesn't fit. It's as if a friend is telling you the main highlights of a friends' love life. I gave it a ten - Redford an Pfieffer make a great, believable couple and you can tell they put their heart into this movie. They both play people who are intelligent and aren't afraid to fight for what they believe it, something we all strive for. Get a tissue, you'll need it.