Romantic comedies abound, so I was hesitant to retry the genre with yet another film starring Michelle Pfeiffer. She seems to love the genre; not necessarily all comedy but definitely the romantic part. Ever since ONE FINE DAY (1996) where she starred alongside the then and future heart-throb George Clooney (MICHAEL CLAYTON), she's been consistently on the romance movie radar screen (that's been 12 years as of this review).
But Pfeiffer does an okay job once again as an aging screenwriter named Rosie, trying to keep her job, her sanity, and her teen daughter all from imploding. Circling around these troublesome times is Rosie's growing awareness of her age (mid-40s) and her lack of any new romantic prospects. Her "battle scenes" with her daughter's Ken and Barbie dolls are pretty darn funny, too, which also aided in the darker side of the comedic need to understand one's own age. Her daughter Izzie (Saoirse Ronan, ATONEMENT) has just got her period and is full into what she believes to be womanhood. Rosie's daughter's blossoming adulthood triggers Rosie's own sense of love and she finds it in the unlikely arms of a much, much younger man/actor named Adam (Paul Rudd (KNOCKED UP).
Difficulties abound thanks to Rosie's passive-aggressive secretary Jeannie (Sarah Alexander) who does everything to thwart Rosie's possibilities at a love life; and thanks to Rosie's ex-husband Nathan (Jon Lovitz) who's always having some body part of his remade via plastic surgery. There's another "force" battling Rosie and it is Mother Nature herself (Tracey Ullman, CORPSE BRIDE) come to life in the form of a nymph-like creature that talks to Rosie about the need to follow nature's path.
The Mother Nature portions of the story are undoubtedly the weakest and easily could've been tossed out without losing anything within the story of I COULD NEVER BE YOUR WOMAN.
The outlandish dancing and over-acting of Paul Rudd helped keep the story light and laugh-out-loud interesting. Even Lovitz was a bit of a surprise in that he helped move the storyline along with some decent comedic punch.
But if you're looking for anything new within the genre, you won't find it here. Which can be refreshingly simple for some, but irritatingly static to others.
But Pfeiffer does an okay job once again as an aging screenwriter named Rosie, trying to keep her job, her sanity, and her teen daughter all from imploding. Circling around these troublesome times is Rosie's growing awareness of her age (mid-40s) and her lack of any new romantic prospects. Her "battle scenes" with her daughter's Ken and Barbie dolls are pretty darn funny, too, which also aided in the darker side of the comedic need to understand one's own age. Her daughter Izzie (Saoirse Ronan, ATONEMENT) has just got her period and is full into what she believes to be womanhood. Rosie's daughter's blossoming adulthood triggers Rosie's own sense of love and she finds it in the unlikely arms of a much, much younger man/actor named Adam (Paul Rudd (KNOCKED UP).
Difficulties abound thanks to Rosie's passive-aggressive secretary Jeannie (Sarah Alexander) who does everything to thwart Rosie's possibilities at a love life; and thanks to Rosie's ex-husband Nathan (Jon Lovitz) who's always having some body part of his remade via plastic surgery. There's another "force" battling Rosie and it is Mother Nature herself (Tracey Ullman, CORPSE BRIDE) come to life in the form of a nymph-like creature that talks to Rosie about the need to follow nature's path.
The Mother Nature portions of the story are undoubtedly the weakest and easily could've been tossed out without losing anything within the story of I COULD NEVER BE YOUR WOMAN.
The outlandish dancing and over-acting of Paul Rudd helped keep the story light and laugh-out-loud interesting. Even Lovitz was a bit of a surprise in that he helped move the storyline along with some decent comedic punch.
But if you're looking for anything new within the genre, you won't find it here. Which can be refreshingly simple for some, but irritatingly static to others.