What Women Want (2000) 3 stars out of 4. Starring Mel Gibson, Helen Hunt, Marisa Tomei, Mark Feuerstein, Lauren Holly, Ashley Johnson, Delta Burke, Valerie Perrine and Alan Alda. Screenplay by Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa. Story by Diane Drake. Music by Alan Silvestri. Directed by Nancy Meyers. Rated PG-13.
What Women Want is a retro romantic-comedy in which Mel Gibson acquires the ability to hear womenís thoughts, thus knowing what women want.
This is a film that, if made during the 1940s or ë50s would have starred Cary Grant or in the 1960s would have been a vehicle for Rock Hudson.
Gibson stars as Nick Marshall, a hot-shot advertising director, who during the filmís opening is described as a ìmanís man.î He refers to women as broads and chicks, and calls them ìbabe.î
Born and raised in Las Vegas by his showgirl mother, Nick is charming and irrepressible as well as a chauvinist. He loves listening to Frank Sinatra, ogling women and flirting outrageously.
But all that begins to change after two life-changing events:
First, Nick loses out on a promotion to creative director at his ad agency to Darcy Maguire (Helen Hunt). Secondly, he receives a major electrical shock that gives him the ability to hear womenís inner-most thoughts.
What Women Want is an enchanting outing, that displays Gibson at his rakish best. As Nick, he is attractive, seductive and irresistible.
One memorable sequence features Gibsonís Nick dancing around his apartment while Sinatraís "Wonít Dance (You Canít Make Me) plays on his stereo.
Nick decides to use his new-found ability to undermine Darcy so he can get the job he believes he deserves. (His boss ó played by Alan Alda ó told him he did not get the job because he knew nothing about what women want.)
The movie has an old-fashioned feel to it. The Gibson-Hunt relationship is reminiscent of the Spencer Tracy-Katherine Hepburn movies of the ë40s and ë50s.
Of course, it doesnít take a genius to figure out the path What Women Want follows.
Nick, eavesdropping on the thoughts of thousands of women, not only learns what women want, but discovers how many actually feel about him. He discovers he is not the smooth operator he believes he is.
In a sense Gibsonís Nick trods the same path as Dustin Hoffmanís Michael in Tootsie. Both learn to be better men by tapping into the feminine world: Nick by listening to their thoughts, Michael by masquerading as a woman to land a soap opera role.
Gibson is suave as well as funny as Nick. His big baby blues light up when he realizes the power his newfound ability gives him.
Hunt is beautiful and effervescent as Darcy, who covers up her own misgivings and doubts about her ability to handle her new job with bravado. She is a no-nonsense type of woman, yet she also is warm and vulnerable. Plus Hunt looks dazzling.
The scenes between Gibson and Hunt seem natural and unforced. They do create a screen chemistry.
Unfortunately, What Women Want is about 20 minutes too long. The movie sort of dies toward the finale. It appears as if screenwriters Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa, working from a story by Diane Drake, could not devise a satisfactory ending. The movie slowly winds down like an old watch. The film doesnít really end, it seems to just stop.
And a subplot involving a young office worker at the agency who may be suicidal seems unnecessary.
What Women Want will be a great date movie. Women, especially, will relish it, and many men may walk out of the theater with bruised ribs from being poked by their better halves.
This film is a ring-a-ding good time.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN. He can be reached by e-mail at bloom@journal-courier.com. For more reviews by Bloom visit www.jconline.com and click on golafayette. More reviews by Bob Bloom can be found at the Internet Movie Database Web site at: http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom
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