Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

All that we are seeing on the screen is happening with real people, real action sequences in the background, forcing the eye to watch as if we were there.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Up Close and Personal (1996): Dir: Jon Avnet / Cast: Robert Redford, Michelle Pfeiffer, Glenne Plummer, Stockard Channing, Joe Mantegna: Meant to be the arrow that Cupid shot but ultimately becomes a thorn in the side of sober viewers. Title is a pun onto itself describing physical affection and two journalists. Michelle Pfeiffer lands a job as a news reporter but she falls for her boss played by Robert Redford. This all ends as a tearjerker that is enough to warrant urination on the screen. Director Jon Avnet does what he can with the routine formula. Pfeiffer and Redford are both reduced to props that do nothing more than sleep with each other. Pfeiffer begins with promise using humour to highlight her yearning to succeed but unfortunately she gets lost in the formula. Redford can only walk the familiar path before being sold out on a cheap tear jerker ending. Glenne Plummer plays Pfeiffer's cameraman who gets caught in a prison riot with her. Stockard Channing is wasted in this boring drivel. Joe Mantegna also makes an appearance but if the leads cannot strike any life into this junk, then the supporting players are hardly qualified to fix it. Fans of the genre will discover that this is nothing to get up close and personal with. On the surface it displays news and journalism but underneath it is a lame romance that deserves to get up and personal with the receiving end of a sledgehammer. Score: 2 / 10

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.

Usually I like to research a movie for fun before watching it. I don't like to waste time watching a movie for 2 or 3 hours. What I learned is that this movie is based on "Jessica Savitch" who in the 1970s became the first female American anchor on television.The movie was based on the book " Golden Girl: The Story of Jessica Savitch" written by Alanna Nash.The movie is said not to be as accurate in detail and also over dramatize and exaggerate events. Also emphasizing on aspects that are debatable. So the movie might be leaning more towards fiction, then of true events. But that's debatable.I didn't give the movie a rating because after 20 minutes i couldn't bare to watch anymore. The movie had nothing to draw me in at all. Nothing to captivate me into sitting there and watching it for free.I suppose if you are the type that like to judge a movie after watching it then the best thing for you to do is watch the whole thing.

...the fact that the interaction between the characters at times is very stilted. A particular scene in which Warren Justice (Robert Redford) is telling Tally Atwater (Michelle Pfeiffer) how to put a news story together is particularly telling. Their dialogue is an interaction that has a noticeable pause between each line, and it made me think that perhaps it had not been well directed.The scenes don't always seems a smooth continuance.The sub-story regarding the siege at Holbrook Prison was lengthy and took a large part of the movie. Whilst it portrayed Tally's growing talent and removal from Justice's Svengali-like influence, it, for me, broke the continuancy of the movie.But despite this, the movie really struck a chord with me. It is one of the few movies I bought on DVD that I watch repeatedly. For some enigmatic reason, I love the movie despite the obvious flaws.