The sort of nerve required to produce an excellent screenplay like Chinatown seems to have deserted Towne in this, his directorial debut.
Comment
02/09/06
Personal Best (1982)
73
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:22
Fresh:16
Rotten:6
Average Rating:6.4/10
Consensus: Mariel Hemingway has a career-making star turn in this highly physical drama about two Olympic athletes who find each other during competitive training.
Runtime: 2 hrs 9 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Two highly competitive female athletes discover erotic feelings for each other as they train for the Olympics.
Starring: Mariel Hemingway, Scott Glenn, Patrice Donnelly, Kenny Moore
Director: Robert Towne
Get This Movie
Reviews for Personal Best
Hemingway excels in a difficult and risky role.
04/17/03
A robust and adventuresome film that is both tough and sentimental in its portrait of Olympic grade women athletes.
01/24/02
Unless you're fascinated by all of the prettified slow-motion footage of Chris, Tory and the other women athletes, your eye is likely to wander to your watch long before the end.
08/30/04
Top CriticThis is a very physical movie, one of the healthiest and sweatiest celebrations of physical exertion I can remember.
10/23/04
Top CriticEndowed with remarkable performances, superb photography, and a clear vision of what matters to its characters, Personal Best is an underappreciated gem in a genre full of filler.
06/27/09
The characters have a fullness and vitality rare in American films of that period, but Towne has so much trouble establishing information visually that the film emerges as choppy, confused, ill-proportioned.
01/01/00
Top CriticThere's no questioning its authenticity.... However, the movie tends to make its points early and then repeat itself unnecessarily.
01/20/08
Personal Best is likable precisely because it is so unembarrassed.
08/04/08
Top CriticTowne has a love of slow motion that's employed as if he's afraid you might miss one, rippling muscle. Worse than that, when people aren't exercising, they are often talking about exercising.
08/04/08
Top CriticAn unusual subject to get the Hollywood treatment though, and as such it should be commended, while Hemmingway is always worth catching.
05/24/03
It's a quintessential girl's coming-of-age story, and writer/director Robert Towne saw that Hemingway's uncanny ability to play both impressionable and stubborn, ingenuous and ambitious, naive and wise, was perfectly suited to this drama.
11/06/01
A frank, honest portrayal of the sacrifices of Olympic-caliber athletes. it is tough and uncompromising.
10/11/02
One of the best movies ever about competition, with wonderfully natural performances.
04/04/03
No review available.
12/06/02
No review available.
11/17/03
No review available.
03/24/05
No review available.
06/30/05
No review available.
07/29/02
No review available.
09/20/03
RT On Current TV
What’s Hot On RT
Fresh Links
Featured
Wes Anderson on Fox 
The director talks about puppetry perfection and his film, Fantastic Mr. Fox
Animated Oscar?
Hollywood.com ponders whether or not an animated film could win Best Picture.
TIME's Holiday Movie Preview
Richard Corliss previews the season's best offerings and hottest tickets.
Scenic Routes
The AV Club's Mike D'Angelo airs his beefs with Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!
IGN RSS Feeds