THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 8, 1996 TAG: 9603080784
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E9 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines
BEHIND THE SCENES of ``Up Close and Personal,'' a title that sounds as if it might be for a deodorant commercial, is a study in how a potentially engrossing movie was transformed into a bland, schmaltzy vehicle for two stars.
The intense life and tragic death of TV newswoman Jessica Savitch is the stuff of which drama is made. A cool, blonde type, she rose from nowhere to the network news. Only after her death did the story come out about her ambitious, ruthless climb, her drug problem, the suicide of her first husband and her own questionable death.
When Touchstone Pictures announced that it was going to do a Savitch movie, visions of an Oscar must have flashed before Hollywood actresses. When Michelle Pfeiffer was chosen for the part, things looked even better. Pfeiffer was superb in suggesting toughness with an underlayer of tenderness in ``The Fabulous Baker Boys.''
But in ``Up Close and Personal,'' the real-life Jessica Savitch becomes Tally Atwater. This creature is a fictional nonentity - the stereotype of blonde ambition who rises from nowhere to Miami to Philadelphia to the network. Robert Redford plays a character (laughably named Warren Justice), who is her mentor and lover.Upon seeing her in a dreadful weather report, he comments, with a straight face, ``She heats up the lenses.''
The trailers for the movie avoid any reference to either the TV news business or to Savitch. Instead, we get Redford and Pfeiffer playing touchy-touch in the surf and bedrooms accompanied by the requisite love ballad.
The board-room thinking surely must have much to do with the fact that several TV movies plumbed the Jessica Savitch story before this more expensive version could have gotten into theaters.
As far as any substance is concerned, all is lost. If you want to see a witty movie about the TV news business, rent the inventive ``Broadcast News.'' If you want a more serious treatment, there's ``Network.'' If you want to see the one about the wife who rises as the husband falls, check out the memorable Judy Garland version of ``A Star is Born.'' If you want a hilarious, bitter version of the weather girl who would do anything to become ``famous,'' take another look at Nicole Kidman's fine performance in ``To Die For.''
This film borrows from all of them, and adds nothing.
Pfeiffer works hard, but under the direction of Jon Avnet (``Risky Business'') she turns in a rather synthetic performance.
The script throws in a melodramatic prison break, with Pfeiffer trapped inside. Those broadcasts get her on the network. Given half a chance, Pfeiffer could have suggested network-worthy stardom all her own - without tawdry plot devices.
Redford, in real life talks the good talk when it comes to promoting independent films but when it comes to making a film himself, he makes films like this. Even he must pay the bills, but he is at the age where he should avoid such transparently cosmetic film romances as this. He and Warren Beatty would do well to initiate careers as character actors. Perhaps they could take a look at how well, and with what distinction, Paul Newman has made recent script choices.
The only interesting characters are the supporting ones. Stockard Channing plays a tough-as-nails newswoman who is threatened by the fact she's hit her 40s. We would have liked to have seen a good deal more of her character. Kate Nelligan plays an aging, highly professional newswoman who also happens to be a former wife of the Redford character. She brings a rare touch of poignancy. Joe Mantegna, as Pfeiffer's somewhat lecherous agent, is totally wasted.
Even if all you want is romantic schmaltz, you'd best bring your own romance. This one is both synthetic and predictable. ``Up Close'' is not very personal. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
TOUCHSTONE PICTURES
Newsman Warren Justice (Robert Redford) takes Tally Atwater
(Michelle Pfeiffer) from a weathergirl to network anchor.
Graphic
MOVIE REVIEW
``Up Close and Personal''
Cast: Robert Redford, Michelle Pfeiffer, Stockard Channing, Joe
Mantegna, Kate Nelligan
Director: Jon Avnet
Screenplay: Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne
Music: Thomas Newman
MPAA rating: PG-13 (some language, prison violence, sexual
situations)
Mal's rating: Two 1/2 stars
Locations: Cinemark, Greenbrier 13 in Chesapeake; Janaf, Main
Gate in Norfolk; Columbus, Kemps River, Lynnhaven 8, Surf-N-Sand in
Virginia Beach
by CNB