Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
A mother falls for a younger man while her daughter falls in love for the first time.
I Could Never Be Your Woman is a lightweight romantic comedy with a fairly formulaic premise—older woman/younger man romance running parallel to a daughter's first love story. The dual romance structure offers modest charm but little narrative surprise. Michelle Pfeiffer and Paul Rudd bring genuine chemistry and likability that elevates the material above its script, while Saoirse Ronan shows early promise in her supporting role. Visually the film is unremarkable, typical of mid-2000s romantic comedies with flat, TV-movie aesthetics. The Mother Nature framing device (Tracey Ullman) is a quirky but underdeveloped gimmick that doesn't add much novelty. The ending resolves predictably along expected rom-com lines. The film's troubled production and limited release (it went straight to video in the US) reflect its modest ambitions and execution.