Up Close & Personal

Though Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne are creditable print journalists, they become shameless hacks whenever they write screenplays, and this deeply offensive Disney picture about TV journalism in Miamitraversing various areas already treated in both Broadcast News and To Die For, and suggested by Alanna Nash’s book Golden Girlis no exception. The usually wonderful Michelle Pfeiffer plays a former waitress and casino worker from Reno determined to become a big-time anchorperson, and Robert Redford plays her patriarchal boss, guru, and eventual lover. Maybe if this sentimental, dim-witted, sexist claptrap about showbiz had been written 30 years ago it might have been a little less offensive, but somehow I doubt it. Prepare to shed a tear or two if you fall for it; I kept looking at my watch. Directed by Jon Avnet (Fried Green Tomatoes); with Stockard Channing, Joe Mantegna, Kate Nelligan, Glenn Plummer, and James Rebhorn. (JR)

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