My business manager has repeatedly stressed the importance of frequent postings and now I have a whole bunch ready to write. What Women Want is such an obvious entry given my blog’s format, especially because I had already seen the original. Plus it feels appropriate, given I saw it at Paramount, where Jeff and I actually became friends.
Sometimes things in life won’t have the same effect if you just switch the genders of the people involved. I’ve been in a production of 12 Angry Men that was coed and called 12 Angry Jurors. Luckily the two main characters were still male but I’ve heard that there are versions called 12 Angry Women and heard from WOMEN who have seen it that it doesn’t work the same. When an all-girl version of Lord of the Flies was announced in 2017 there was huge backlash from people who essentially pointed out that there’s no “toxic femininity” term. I once saw a coed version of Reservoir Dogs and having a “Ms. Blonde” was really unconvincing, although having a “Ms. Orange” was actually great because Mr. White’s seeming love for her helped provide him motivation. Even going beyond storytelling into the real world, I get mad at guys who complain “Why should women feel violated if I have half-naked pictures of female models in my work cubicle? I wouldn’t get mad if they have half-naked pictures of male models.” To say the least that’s a false equivalence.
Point is, women and men have very different life experiences in this world where there’s the patriarchy and this film does a great job making adjustments. It wouldn’t really make sense to copy What Women Want‘s plot by making this about a woman learning not to objectify and look down upon men. Instead, it shows a woman who has been objectified and looked down upon by men her whole life and developed an aggressive personality to deal with it learning not to be that way.
On the one hand, she has a reason to feel how she does. It’s certainly unfair that women so often get called bitches in our society simply for being assertive. Moreover, the single mom from the last movie who was a sex worker and made the main character think objectifying women is something fun has been appropriately updated to a single dad who wanted his daughter to be a big success and taught her a forceful attitude.
On the other hand, you don’t want to become the type of person you would hate and Ali convincingly learns to open her heart to love, win over people by becoming completely genuine, and embrace male allies (even though they’re hard to find). Taraji P. Henson delivers a great performance illustrating that.
Granted, nobody is watching this movie to have their heart warmed or learn life lessons. At least I’d doubt anyone is. I’m guessing anyone who wants to watch it seeks a good laugh. Question: Does What Men Want provide?
Heck yeah! It’s such a high concept premise it’s hard to go wrong. While last time around we heard the wide variety of thoughts going through the female population’s head, this movie completed the idea by doing the same for the male population and the laughs are consistent, especially at the expense of Ali’s nerdy assistant (although his subsequent romance with Pete Davidson’s character is a somewhat boring subplot). Unrelated to the mind-reading, I’m not really a Tracy Morgan fan but he delivers laughs he hasn’t since his days as “Brian Fellows” on SNL.
Disclaimer: I got to this movie a half hour late. That meant I thought I was watching one of the Reginas until the end credits showed it was Taraji P. Henson, LOL. Nonetheless, it was perfect timing. Although I missed some early character development, that’s again not why people come to a comedy like this. I arrived right before Ali gained her ability to hear men’s thoughts. Granted, I did also miss the introduction of the medium who inadvertently gives her the ability, but I didn’t find that woman funny at all. Any time Ali or other characters went to see her it brought the movie to a halt, the bright side being that most of her stuff is in the credits.
Whatever flaws What Men Want has, its strengths make up for it!
Up next: the original.
Final Verdict: Recommended. Numerous (albeit inconsistent) laughs with a well-delivered topical message.
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