Review: What Men Want
As expected, Taraji P. Henson is a delightful firecracker in What Men Want, the fairly entertaining but underwhelming role reversal remake of Mel Gibson's 2000 rom-com fantasy, What Women Want. Henson is always a boon to any film and, as always, one wishes that the material would rise to meet her level of talent and effort because, if nothing else, Henson works hard to make sure viewers enjoy themselves.
The premise remains the same. Instead of Gibson's chauvinistic Chicago ad executive, we have Henson's ambitious Atlanta sports agent, Ali Davis, who is repeatedly passed over for partnership status because, unlike the rest of the boys' club, her clients are not in the NFL, NBA or the MLB. Not only that, her boss says, but she doesn't really connect well with men so it's best if she just "stays in her lane." Completely infuriated by his condescending and dismissive attitude, she gets drunk and ends up sleeping with a bartender by the name of Will (Aldis Hodge). More significantly, she attends a bachelorette party for her best friend Mari (Tamala Jones), where she imbibes an Haitian herbal tea offered by a tarot reader (Erykah Badu, clearly having a right old time).
Knocked out on the dance floor, she wakes up in the emergency room to discover that she has the power to read men's thoughts. The only one privy to this newfound ability is her beleaguered and neurotic gay assistant Brandon (Josh Brener), who is mortified that his boss can read his thoughts. Initially overwhelmed by the rat-a-tat of annoying dialogue plaguing her brain, Ali quickly susses out that she can use her powers to her advantage, namely in landing rising NBA star Jamal Barry (Shane Paul McGhie) as a client. This not only involves reading his thoughts and the thoughts of his overprotective, fame-minded dad (Tracy Morgan), but also pretending to be married to unsuspecting widowed single dad Will to put herself in a more favourable light with Jamal's dad. Naturally, Ali will soon develop genuine feelings for Will.
Though most of the comedy derives from relatively inane sources, there are moments when the premise is used effectively, particularly in Ali and Will's second makeout session, which is arguably the film's comedic highlight. One does wish that the film were a more stinging satire of the way women have to work twice as hard to make it in a man's world and how black women have to work even more than that to succeed in a world dominated by white men. Race, for better or worse, seems to be a non-issue in the film's universe.
Strangely, for a film that's all about female empowerment, Ali's circle of friends get short shrift - they're more a plot device than anything else, which is a shame considering that Wendi McLendon-Covey and Phoebe Robinson are reliable comic performers who don't get much of a chance to make an impression. Still, one supposes that director Adam Shankman preferred to keep the focus on Henson, who is such a force of nature that it's difficult to pay attention to anyone else when she's onscreen.
What Men Want
Directed by: Adam Shankman
Written by: Tina Gordon, Alex Gregory, Peter Huyck; based on the What Women Want screenplay by Josh Goldsmith, Cathy Yuspa, Diane Drake
Starring: Taraji P. Henson, Tracy Morgan, Aldis Hodge, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Josh Brener, Tamala Jones, Phoebe Robinson, Max Greenfield, Jason Jones, Kellan Lutz, Brian Bosworth, Pete Davidson, Richard Roundtree, Shane Paul McGhie
