[DVD Review (R2)] I COULD NEVER BE YOUR WOMAN

Amy Heckerling’s I Could Never Be Your Woman (a film said to be autobiographical to the writer/director by any of her famous friends who’ve seen it, but resolutely denied to be so by the woman herself) has got to be one of the most prestigious and famous of straight-to-DVD “premieres” … until Bryan Singer’s Valkyrie next year (snark! snark!)

Undeservedly so! Asides from some behind-the-scenes fighting between the creative types and the money men that saw the film all but abandoned, there’s not many a reason up there on the screen as to why I Could Never Be Your Woman should be cast aside into the pits of “bargain bin hell” policed by Chuck, Dolph and Jean-Claude in servitude for The King of Seagal.

There is, unarguably though, a weird vibe running throughout Heckerling’s movie. For Brit viewers it takes a hell of a lot of getting used to in order to watch an American film, starring American actors, about the American entertainment industry but backed up by a supporting cast filled out with British TV stars (David Mitchell from Peep Show, Sarah Alexander from Coupling, Mackenzie Crook from The Office, Phil Cornwall from Stella Street, Olivia Coleman from Peep Show, Steve Pemberton from The League of Gentlemen, stand-up comedian Ed Byrne and Graham Norton from, well, anything shit really!) and a great cameo from Henry Winkler as himself. Then by discovering why they’re all in it, you come to understand what’s behind the other weird feeling you get with I Could Never Be Your Woman.

For budgetary reasons, the film is set in LA but filmed in a studio in the UK which goes some way to explaining why a lot of the outdoor scenes feel fake one minute and incredibly real the next and why the backlot sequences want to say “Paramount” but scream “Shepperton”. Hence the casting side of things fell to the UK talent and, low and behold, the stars of all our small screen treats get to tread carefully around the likes of Michelle Pfieffer and Paul Rudd.

Thanks to the huge delays in coming to the screen though, the topical gag references and musical cues are pretty much stale. Jokes directed at Will and Grace are a bit useless now that the show is actually off air. Taking your title and leading your montage with a pop song now deader then Chuck Heston is another problem too!

The film centres around a forty something TV producer (Pfieffer) who is trying to balance her daughter’s puberty with the failing of her longstanding TV show, whereby a load of thirtysomethings are trying to get away with playing teens. She brings in a young actor (Paul Rudd) to try and stop the ratings slide, only to fall in love with him and add more worries to her plate…. whilst Mother Nature herself (Tracy Ullman) stands off to the sidelines, commentating and meddling as only she can.

There’s a lot about I Could Never Be Your Woman to like. Heckerling is clearly writing about her time served as a consultant for the Clueless TV show which span off from her movie version. She’s biting about the industry in a way that proves hit-and-miss in terms of laughs-out-loud but definitely amusing none the less. Casting Stacey Dash (whose now forty - can you believe that?!?) as a thirtysomething playing a teen and struggling with it, was a masterstroke of in-jokery. And, at the same time, Heckerling has supported herself with a supporting cast that work their arses off for her in some respects (a surprisingly good Jon Lovitz, David Mitchell, Sarah Alexander all deserve mentions!) are a bit under-used in other respects (Mr Fred Willard, how can anyone but YOU in a movie and not use you properly?) or are just flat out shit (Graham Norton specifically!).

Where the film excels is with Michelle Pfieffer. The woman is just flat-out stunning (she was born in 1958, and I’d still give both my lungs and testicles for just one dirty night of sex with her!) and insanely talented. Heckerling has wrote a gift of a part, considering many an actress of a certain age complains about their being no “decent” parts left anymore. Here is a role that requires the lead to be funny, heartfelt, dramatic, caring, selfish, paranoid, motherly, sexy and sympathetic all at the same time. Pfieffer nails it! I absolutely adored her work here.

Paul Rudd, a friend of Heckerling since he broke out in Clueless, creates some good believable chemistry with Pfieffer but he only appears comfortable channelling the laughs. Whenever the film requires him to do some more dramatic or particularly weighty stuff he doesn’t seem at ease.

The whole subplot and inclusion of Mother Nature (Tracy Ullman) is a mistake from her introduction to her exit and all her appearances throughout. There’s nothing more to say then that it just doesn’t work and the film kind of struggles to find a place for her to fit in, time wise and tonally.

All in all though, this is a “lost” gem of a flick. It’s not going to pull itself to the top of any “best ever romantic comedy” list but its got enough biting satire about the entertainment industry in it to make it worth a look, not to mention a sublime lead turn by Michelle Pfieffer.

This is a film worthy of reappraisal and very much worthy of being plucked from obscurity. Check it out!

1/2

Posted on Friday, May 9th, 2008 at 1:00 pm under DVD Reviews (R2) by Gazz.
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