Up Close And Personal (1996)

An ambitious young woman (Michelle Pfeiffer) from Nevada with aspirations to work in the TV news industry starts from the bottom at a local TV station in Miami. There, she is both mentored and romanced by a former TV journalist (Robert Redford), who used to be a major player before his career took a nosedive. How this film, which started out as a film bio on the late TV newswoman Jessica Savitch (the film's credits say it was "suggested" by a Savitch bio) who lead a dramatically tragic life that screamed out to be made into a movie, turned into this phony cliched mess directed by Jon Avnet (FRIED GREEN TOMATOES) is almost a movie in itself. The producers wanted a more commercial movie so all the drugs, abortions, suicides and death were all excised. So what we get is a movie about an incompetent ninny (Pfeiffer) who can't make it without being saved by her all knowing, worldly guy (Redford). It's a terribly sexist film. We never find out drives Pfeiffer, what makes her want to be a journalist other than she wants to be a "Star". Even as the film winds to a close, it's Redford who's the true hero of the movie, not Pfeiffer who's essentially a wind up doll with Redford pushing the buttons. The film's big set piece is a dangerous prison riot with Pfeiffer caught in the action but when Redford gets through to her via a remote in the middle of the riot, what does she say? She romantically coos, "I was just remembering when we went fishing in the Keys"! An offensive film and not only to journalists. With Stockard Channing who's a breath of fresh air, Kate Nelligan (who's wasted), Joe Mantegna, James Rebhorn, Raymond Cruz and James Karen.