UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL
(1996)
Pia Chew
|
Directed by: Jon Avnet
Cast: Robert Redford (Warren Justice), Michelle
Pfeiffer (Sally Atwater), Stockard Channing, Joe Mantegna, Kate
Nelligan, Dedee Pfeiffer, Glen Plummer.
Produced by: Touchstone
Pictures
Length: Too Long
Showing at: Cathay.
FROM KMART TO ARMANI
The latest Michelle
Pfeiffer film is also the most recent
film starring Robert Redford (the Brad Pitt look-alike plus 40 years
or so). Given the fact of the humongous star-power in their first film
together, UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL would probably thrill audiences who
are into big-time star appeal with photogenic actors/actresses
nicely packaged in a classy wardrobe enough to make Julia
Pretty-Woman Roberts envious. All these
can be generally detrimental to a movie, as it can detract from the film's
more important messages. But in this case, where the plot is trite,
self-consciously serious, and its most soul-stirring, thought-provoking
message can be summed up as "just be
yourself" and "don't give up now," watching Pfeffer evolve from streaky blonde attired head-to-toe in garish Kmart knock-offs and electric blue eyeliner to an Armani-subdued star TV journalist was such a moving experience that it filled me with an overwhelming desire to dash out to Orchard Road on a
shopping spree to satisfy this newly created movie fetish for a matching pastel
peach outfit.
Fashion and hairstyles are, according to the movie, prominent
markers of a person's self-assurance and level of
capability. After all, the movie traces the rise and rise of Sally
(Tally) Atwater, told in a continuous flashback, by emphasizing more
on her dress sense than on her skills as a credible and hard-hitting news
reporter.
Sally Atwater is an aspiring broadcast journalist who has the makings of a first-rate reporter, but unlike her TV counterparts Murphy Brown and Corky Sherwood, she suffers from a really bad dress sense (shocking pink suits), not to mention what looks like a very cheap perm (stringy, dirty blonde).
She also lacks an individual and distinctive reporting style necessary
to make a good reporter (and a weird, quirky name like Murphy's or
Corky's, which is why she is "rechristianed" Tally after her first broadcast
--ed. Her boss and producer of the local network in Miami,
Warren Justice (a 58-year-old Robert Redford old enough to be cast
asPfeiffer's father), proceeds to change all this by embarking her on a
makeover that is to last the first half of the movie. This works out very well
for Tally, and the confidence she gains in her new image actually has an effect on her performance as a "live" journalist. Being the empowered "new" woman that she is, Tally is clad only in well-tailored, softly feminine suits, no less, and she now sports a short, blond bob with cute bangs (somehow,
she managed to straighten her hair, leaving no trace at all
of the aforementioned hideous perm).
With a wonderful new look endorsed and created by the god-like Robert Redford, and confirmed by high TV ratings, Tally has got it all, or so the film makes it out to be. Tally is on her way
to the top, and there's no stopping her, as the film suggests. The success of
her new look and the intoxicating glamour of Tally's success (and taste in clothes), in itself has even snared her an attractively aged Robert Redford. A five-minute montage of hasty, spontaneous couplings in various locations, frolicking at
the beach and late brunches in Warren's beachhouse, accompanied by that
infernal Celine Dion number that is more over-wrought than a Streisand love ballad, adds to the already cliched idea of a romance everyone saw coming a mile away.
But the course of true love never did run smooth, and career-driven women such as Tally are constantly forced to make difficult choices between love and work. I need not try hard to give
away the plot and the result of Tally's decision. If you do decide to see the film,
and can indeed refrain from cringing at the gratuitous montages mentioned before, and insipid dialogue (at one point in the movie , Sally says to Warren about
their blossoming affair,"Why didn't we do this before?"), perhaps you will
appreciate what the film really does well promote, the idea of self-worth
based on a good makeover.
THE FLYING INKPOT's rating system:
* Wait for the video.
** A
little creaky, but still better than staying at home with Gotcha!
*** Pretty good, bring a friend.
**** Amazing, potent stuff.
***** Perfection. See it twice.
Pia Chew is an unemployed
literature student.
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