ShareThis(I COULD NEVER BE YOUR WOMAN. 2007. PG-13. WEINSTEIN CO. $24.95)It stars Michelle Pfeiffer and Paul Rudd ("Knocked Up"), so really, how bad could it be? The answer: pretty darn bad. The box promises more than just the stars' pretty faces ("From the writer/director of 'Clueless'!") but less than a half hour into this clunky romantic comedy one can't help but be embarrassed for Pfeiffer.Just when you think you can't figure out why this never-released clunker (well, according to www.imdb.com, it was released ... in Brazil and Estonia) is out on DVD at all, it comes to you: That's Saoirse Ronan, the Oscar-nominated Briony from "Atonement," playing Pfeiffer's daughter, Izzie. It's all about timing.The movie tells the story of Rosie (Pfeiffer), a single mom in her 40s who is so wrapped up in her job as a TV producer that she has no time to date. That is, until Adam (Rudd) auditions for a role, gets the part and then gets Rosie. Except there's a problem: He's only 29. Rosie's discomfort with the age difference manifests itself in the form of an obnoxious Mother Nature (Tracey Ullman) who keeps showing up as a sort of meddling conscience. The hardest thing to take, though, is the fact that any intelligent woman -- age 20, 30, 40 or 50 -- would fall for Adam and his class-clown antics.Though writer-director Amy Heckerling didn't give the actors much to work with, Pfeiffer fans might be able to get through the film -- she's gorgeous and her usual appealing self. Everyone else would be wise to pass on this one. The extras are meager, too: some deleted scenes, commentary by Heckerling and the trailer. -- SUE ADOLPHSON(THE NAKED PREY. 1966. NOT RATED. THE CRITERION COLLECTION. $39.95)Cornel Wilde was a matinee idol of the 1940s and '50s who was too intelligent and too restless to sit around and wait for good scripts. In his middle years, he began directing his own films, and this 1966 effort is his best known.Set in the 19th century, it's about European ivory hunters who -- because of the stupidity of one in their company -- end up insulting some tribesmen in Africa. Bad move. They're all but wiped out, and the handful who survive are tortured to death, except Wilde, whom the natives recognize as a fairly decent sort. They strip him naked and give him a head start into the jungle, and then set about hunting him -- but he turns out to be a pretty tough customer.What distinguishes this film from others like it -- such as "The Most Dangerous Game" -- is the utter bleakness of Wilde's vision. Not only are human beings barbaric to each other, but nature is also brutal in this struggle for survival. When Wilde cuts to an animal, it's usually killing something, eating somebody or preparing to do one or the other. The film has very little dialogue. After the first minutes, Wilde's role is all but silent, and the language of the tribesmen is never translated. It's a film of tension and spectacle, with a singular point of view behind it. It grabs the viewer thoroughly, even as it invites audiences to watch it with a cold, careful eye. -- MICK LASALLE(THE ARISTOCATS: SPECIAL EDITION. 1970. RATED G. WALT DISNEY VIDEO. $29.99)This animated Disney feature isn't in the same league as the studio's early masterpieces ("Snow White," "Pinocchio"), but it's still worth seeing. Set in Paris in 1910, the picture recounts the adventures of Duchess the cat and her three kittens, who are about to inherit the fortune of a wealthy opera singer. A jealous butler dumps the feline heirs out in the boondocks, and they try to find their way home with help from some amusing country cats.The animation of this era of Disney movies isn't as drop-dead gorgeous as that of the films that made the studio's reputation, but it's still hand-drawn work, and does its job as an engaging vehicle for fun characters and lively music. There's outstanding vocal work by Phil Harris, the drawling, folksy actor-singer who was a star in the big band and radio eras and did vocal work on several Disney features (he sang "The Bare Necessities" in "The Jungle Book").Other voice talents represented are Eva Gabor, Sterling Holloway, Scatman Crothers (who sings the great song "Everybody Wants to Be a Cat"), Pat Buttram and Paul Winchell. The songs are by Disney stalwarts the Sherman Brothers, and Maurice Chevalier sings the title tune. Extras include a deleted song and a "Bath Day" short cartoon from 1946, starring Figaro the cat. "The Aristocats" was the last animated feature initiated by Walt Disney, who died in 1966. -- WALTER ADDIEGO(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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