MOVIE REVIEW

What Women Want  (2000)

Starring: Mel Gibson, Helen Hunt, Marisa Tomei
Director: Nancy Meyers
Rating: PG-13

Studio: Paramount Pictures

Review Posted: 4.21.01

Rating: 3/4

By Michael Brendan McLarney

"Muliebral Mindreader"

Riding the inherent likeability of its star, "What Women Want" is a romantic comedy that takes enormous pleasure in displaying the hilarious possibilities branching out from its premise. Director Nancy Myers has great confidence in the movie's concept, and is able to get the most from her story by way of a wonderfully charismatic central performance from Mel Gibson. Only near the end, where the film puts the serious message front and center, does the movie stumble a little. Not because the message it delivers isn't a good one (it certainly is), but because the somewhat gray tone in the final act pales in comparison to the gleeful fun the film has in its first ninety minutes.

Nick Marshall (Gibson) is the ultimate man's man, as we are told at the outset by his first wife (Lauren Holly). She narrates the backstory, letting us in on why he views women in the dim-witted, chauvinistic light he does. Being the son of a Vegas showgirl, he wasn't exactly brought up surrounded by examples of strong, self-sufficient women who commanded respect in public and emotional maturity in private. Instead, he grew up seeing them as ophthalmic eye candy; merely visual targets resting in the concupiscent crosshairs of men not perceptive enough to realize there is more to them that meets the eye.

Now a hotshot advertising executive, Nick still carries with him his imbedded condescending attitude toward the female gender, making sexual wisecracks to his best friend, Morgan (Mark Feuerstein) without the realization (or the empathy) that his female co-workers are within earshot. He is soon given a shock as a promotion he assumed would naturally be his has gone instead to a rival exec from another company, Darcy Maguire (Helen Hunt). Losing the promotion to a member of the opposite sex is a bit much for Nick to handle.

Yet it isn't the only thing Nick will have to contend with, as a freak accident has made him the victim of a mild electrical shock. The end result is a newfound ability to hear the very thoughts that emanate from the minds of women. No member of the female gender rests outside Nick's mindreading ability. His ex-wife, his daughter, his new boss, and his co-workers (well, most of his co-workers, anyway) all have their thoughts and feelings amplified and channeled into Nick's own mind whenever he is in close proximity.

Mel Gibson is an actor who just brims with likeability, even if he is playing a male chauvinist whose attitude toward women is absolutely reprehensible. We don't condone his actions, but we do pull for him to get his head screwed on right, which is a tribute to Gibson's enchanting screen presence. He's especially engaging in a scene where, in order to come up with ideas for an ad campaign directed toward women rather than mocking them, actually tries female beauty products, even going so far as to experience the excruciating nature of waxing one's legs.

Playing a character with a no-nonsense personality masking a rather sweet vulnerability, Helen Hunt displays a distinct charm as the new boss, who begins as a target of deception for Nick, but because of his newfound talent, he is able to know things about her that he wouldn't normally see. Also good is the very engaging Ashley Johnson as Nick's blossoming daughter. She holds a degree of cynicism toward his chosen role in her life (calling him "Nick" instead of "dad") but slowly allows him to gain her trust as he becomes a tad more perceptive to her needs and insecurities.

Despite the movie's need to delve into areas of seriousness (including a subplot involving an underappreciated employee with possible thoughts of suicide), I didn't take away a potent message that perhaps the filmmakers wanted me to. But I did appreciate the deliriously funny depiction of a man who, by an odd stroke of fate, was handed the ability to obtain the horrific realization that (gasp!) he isn't quite the GOD to women he thought he was. It's a notion that I'll bet those involved have wanted to laugh at for a while. Patience may indeed be a virtue, but jocular revenge is a heck of a lot sweeter.

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