Film Review: What Men Want

14:38 February 19, 2019
By: David Vicari

**1/2 (out of four)

Ali Davis (Taraji P. Henson) is the lone female sports agent in an agency that is a boys’ club, which means that she is always passed over for a promotion. That's the main reason why she isn't that nice of a person. She is career-driven to a fault, often talks down to her young gay male assistant (Josh Brener), and is very single. Her female friends tell her that she just doesn't “get” men.

However, an exotic herbal tea concoction from a stoner psychic (a hilarious Erykah Badu) plus a blow to the head allow Ali to actually hear the inner thoughts of every man she comes in contact with.

If this scenario sounds familiar, that is because this movie is a companion piece to the 2000 stinker What Women Want, which stars Mel Gibson as a guy who is able to hear women's thoughts.

What Men Want is a better movie than its predecessor, but it has the same main flaw, which is that the inner thoughts are infantile and generally unfunny. The few inner thought moments here that do work are how men react to meeting their sports heroes, and a riotous sex scene. Still, director Adam Shankman’s movie never attempts to bring up anything insightful about the differences between men and women. The film works best when it’s leaning toward screwball comedy, which Henson plays very well.

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