People are voting emotionally.

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

This is a beautiful and understated film about people trying to get the best out of the interaction of their personal lives with their sports performance. This is a very realistic, documentary-like film, and not everybody wants that from a film. If you want predictable, this isn't it: this film is human. You see these people go through real changes, as logical, illogical, fickle and precarious as life can be. The acting is top-notch, including the real-life athletes in scripted parts. Scott Glenn and Mariel Hemingway do some of their best work here. Patrice Donnelly is one of the most gorgeous women I have ever seen. The relationship depicted between her and Hemingway is complex, intelligent and non-exploitative. Just don't assume it's a 'typical' lesbian relationship-- it's THEIR relationship and has its own progression with which some will identify and some won't. It's definitely a superior alternative to what gay men were presented with around the same time: 'Making Love', which is soap-opera cheesy and ruined poor Harry Hamlin's movie career before it could get much of anywhere (and, to his credit, he is still proud of having done the role). Any lesbian who thinks 'Personal Best' is patronizing, really needs to see 'Making Love'.Few movies make me nostalgic, but 'Personal Best' does, very much so-- I wish I could time-warp back to Eugene in 1976! It's got that 'natural' '70s vibe to it, and it is sometimes heartwarming to see people without cellphones or computers. All around this film makes the athletes larger-than-life and gets under their skin in ways few films have ever done, and I'm not a sports-oriented person, let alone given to watching track-and-field. The shot-put scene at the Olympic trial at the end is one of many marvelously-conceived sequences which literally make me feel like I'm in the action, as the athletes in slo-mo coil into position with the shot, getting eye-to-eye with the camera just before they all spring forth at once in a nice feat of editing.The DVD release of this film is a little confounding because, even though it's widescreen, the image quality is really not much better than a good VHS copy. There is a lot of visual noise, especially obvious on dark backgrounds (like the credits), which was very disappointing to see-- it seems that a DVD release does not guarantee quality, just compatibility. But at least it's available, whereas the VHS is becoming very hard-to-find except on Amazon (can't believe I've never even seen one at Goodwill). I would love to see this film restored to its full magnificence.

I have always loved this classic tale of two cool, starry-eyed, cross-country, long-legged distance runners, tragically hailing from opposite sides of the border town track and bar, who manage to break free and sprint halfway to mingle and drool over vodka and KY jelly-filled donuts before making a mad lovers' dash through customs whilst en route to Denmark to consummate their same-sex, syringe-friendly, lesbian marriage. This film fondly reminded me of my own modestly unhappy youth growing up in the outskirts of rural Kashmir country with Brenda, a olympic champion skeet shooter, my ex-former lover, and dedicated but untrustworthy carefree confidante, in a seedy neighborhood where our loyalties were constantly challenged, torn, undermined, and resurrected, only to have the cycle repeat itself like a never-ending perpetual monthly calendar. While Personal Best makes little chronological or other sense, any attempt to introduce a plot would inexorably distract attention from its sensually accurate detailed depictions of the morbidly anorexic female form. Gynecologically speaking, I found this movie to be quite a workout, with my quadriceps twitching in tandem with the characters,' eventually achieving a harmonious, sedentary, fleeting, runners' high. So high, in point of fact, that I levitated slowly out of my stadium theatre seat and joined the Buddha perched on a wall above to share a moment of clarity, whereupon my pacemaker and chronographic watch simultaneously and momentarily stopped ticking. Thank you for this movie!

I would like to begin by saying that this movie really hits it on the mark for showing the human side of its characters. Its portrayal of love of many forms rings astounding true from the beginning to the end. I would like to add, though, that it does strike me viewing it today as somewhat exploiting its lesbian relationship and the female form in general. I have seen many other films, however, where such scenes were not accompanied by the proper human drama that should be found in such relationships, and that is a far worse crime for a film to make. If you can ignore the occasional lewd seen, this movie has far too much heart for it to be missed.

Personal Best is a wonderful story of love, growing up and competition. Chris must grow up and find her own way in an intense arena. She competes with her lover Tori for prizes and the coach's attention. The movie deftly explores the issue of how to compete with and love someone at the same time. The movie is tasteful and handles the issues without a hint of the frat boy sniggering that could so easily have been the theme of the movie.One of my all-time favorite movies.