Review of What Women Want (2000) by Brett H — 24 Aug 2015
What Women Want is a strong premise trapped inside mediocre execution as this concept is never taken to its full potential and the film is extremely old-fashioned and lazy in its depiction of how men and women think.
This is a film I've seen marketed since I was young and was always curious about how well it would turn out and to my surprise it was even more absurd than I could have thought and not much worked for me.
Mel Gibson is what holds this thing together with his incredible wit and effortless charm, but even he seems to be embarrassed to be a part of this. The problem here is that the film takes no chances and settles for the fluffy, predictable man-and-woman-at-odds-fall-in-love trope and it was as routine as it gets.
It's surprising this was helmed by a female director as the shallowness of the character's thoughts and the treatment of its female characters made the film feel like it was made in the 50s. It's completely harmless and has a chuckle every once in a while, but it never takes advantage of its comedic opportunities and it's too silly for its own good (at one point he's able to hear a female dog's thoughts.
..).
This review of What Women Want (2000) was written by Brett H on 24 Aug 2015.
What Women Want has generally received positive reviews.
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