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.
Comment
01/01/00
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
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Reviews for Personal Best
Top CriticThe sort of nerve required to produce an excellent screenplay like Chinatown seems to have deserted Towne in this, his directorial debut.
02/09/06
No review available.
06/30/05
There's no questioning its authenticity.... However, the movie tends to make its points early and then repeat itself unnecessarily.
01/20/08
Towne 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
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
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
An unusual subject to get the Hollywood treatment though, and as such it should be commended, while Hemmingway is always worth catching.
05/24/03
No review available.
03/24/05
A frank, honest portrayal of the sacrifices of Olympic-caliber athletes. it is tough and uncompromising.
10/11/02
No review available.
12/06/02
No review available.
02/18/08
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
Endowed 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
No review available.
11/17/03
One of the best movies ever about competition, with wonderfully natural performances.
04/04/03
No review available.
07/29/02
Personal Best is likable precisely because it is so unembarrassed.
08/04/08
Top CriticNo review available.
09/20/03
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