What men what 2019
What men what 2019
What Men Want
Now streaming on:
Henson plays Ali (her name inspires one of the film’s funniest lines). She is already clear on what men want because she has spent her entire life in a man’s world, trying to succeed in their terms. She was raised by Skip (Richard Roundtree), a single father who owns a boxing gym and named her after his favorite heavyweight champion. When Skip sympathetically asks Ali if she wants to talk about what is bothering her, she knows that means she should put on boxing gloves and get into the ring so they can spar while they talk.
Ali works at a mostly all-white bubbling petri dish of toxic masculinity, an agency of sports representatives à la Jerry Maguire. She has internalized their norms, barking at her long-suffering assistant Brandon (Josh Brener), eying and objectifying hunky males, and striving to be in every way one of the boys, from getting invited to an all-male poker night to making partner in the firm. She loses out on partnership because her clients, including Olympic medalists with strong endorsement deals and media prominence, are not in the NFL, NBA, or MLB. Her boss dismisses her with four of the most infuriatingly condescending words in the universe: “Stay in your lane.”
Then some funky tea from a psychic named Sister (a very funny Erykah Badu, sporting hair that looks like the bottom of a witch’s broom and talon-like fingernails), as combined with that screenwriter favorite—a hit on the head—somehow gives Ali the power to hear men’s thoughts. They’re pretty much what you might guess: “Michael Keaton was the best Batman,” “I should have my prostate checked,” “Did I leave my keys on my desk?”, variations of “Why can’t I tell this person I have a crush?” and “I may be pretending to be on your side, but privately I will do everything in my power to undermine you.”
Ali is initially horrified at what she hears, but then she realizes it can work to her advantage because the land an important new client, an NBA top draft pick named Jamal (Shane Paul McGhie). Jamal has a father (Tracy Morgan) who is so over-protective of his son, over-ambitious about promoting himself and his «dietary supplements,» and so focused on getting rich that he’s even changed his name to Joe Dolla.
At first, Ali’s new power seems to be helping, but responding to what she hears in men’s thoughts to gain advantage instead of understanding just takes her further from the truth about herself. She even ends up pretending that a handsome single dad (Aldis Hodge) is her husband, without telling him, just so that Joe will think she is a stable family woman. Ali’s best negotiating tactic is the “win-win” but she has not given much thought to what winning means for either side, including herself.
Director Adam Shankman keeps things bouncy with predictable but peppy songs on the soundtrack (like “Push It,” as Ali is getting ready to, uh, push it) and implements a cast of comedic all-stars, including Morgan, Badu, Kellan Lutz as a super-swole neighbor with an unprintable nickname, Pete Davidson as a lovesick staffer, and Phoebe Robinson and Wendi McLendon-Covey as Ali’s friends. (Be sure to stay for the credits to see the cast improvising their characters’ visits to the psychic.)
Henson’s very funny but grounded performance keeps us rooting for Ali even in her most awkward moments, whether she’s doing the walk of shame straight into a business event without realizing the used condom stuck to her skirt, or vamping to keep Joe from finding out she’s not really married. But her revelations are all in her eyes, like when she experiences true intimacy, tenderness, or her first real vulnerability. We don’t need funky tea to know what Ali is thinking; we just need Henson, who makes us care.
User Reviews
Honestly this was rubbish
Rubbish 2/10 Pad.A
I think in the terms of Romcoms this movie ranks above average.
You know what you’re getting into by choosing this movie, it’s a romcom about a woman trying to figure out what men want. Then how are people hating on it so much? I don’t get it. It delivers what it promises, nothing fancy, no plot twists, no unique writing, enjoyable fun acting, just mindless bubbly fun.
Taraji P Henson is a bowl of energy and sunshine that keeps the rhythm of this movie constantly up and high and she elevates the whole movie. The movie really banked on this as well, almost every scene has her which is great.
Supporting characters are barely memorable except Max Greenfield (Who played Schmidt on New Girl) simply because I like the actor. Rest are forgettable.
Plot is simple, nothing that unique but fun, it follows the basic romcom formula but nothing wrong with that.
Are there better Romcoms, yes of course. Are there worse, many.
Don’t believe on those 1 star 2 star reviews I’d say, the IMDb rating is quite accurate 5-6 star ballpark is much suited for this movie.
If you’re in the mood of bubbly fun movie I’d say go for it. I personally quite enjoyed this movie.
It’s obvious purely from the title that the film was going to play heavily on stereotypes, so it was no surprise when the script went out very hard on men. The majority of men’s thoughts turned out not just to be sexual, but vulgar. We had a 16 year old girl in our group of watchers, and it was too heavy for a 16 year old.
The original What Women Want did a huge amount to defend women, glorify them and reveal their best qualities to men. What Men Want was mensploitation (if there’s such a term, along with whitesploitation) and lacked the class of the original, and while that’s not uncommon, I was hoping for a lot more than just a bunch of hoopla laughs. In fact, the movie would have been a lot more fun watching a naive girly woman discovering the secrets of men, learning to avoid their pitfalls and then taking on some of their best qualities to improve herself. That’s what the original did.
The movie was really funny and the actors did a great job. Settings were nicely chosen. Camera work was precise. Everything played just well into each other. It was a 7.5+ rounded up to 8 for me.
With so many 1/10 I almost missed it, but surely something seems fishy with these down votes. You might not like it and give it a 5 or 6, but so many 1s seem like some campaign to kill the movie for some reason I don’t know.
Just watch it and enjoy laughing and feeling with the characters.
My girlfriend and I were looking forward to seeing this. We walked away very disappointed. Teraji P Henson’s is a favorite of ours but we found ourselves not even wanting to root for her character.
I like slapstick or over the top humor in measured doses as much as the next guy, but the way her character was portrayed felt more like a mixture of over acting, completely unbelievable behavior in the workplace, and borderline psychotic behavior.
In fact, it was a near perfect portrayal of a psychotic disorder. Through most of the movie she almost completely lacked guilt or remorse, was narcissistic and severely lacked empathy. She was dishonest and manipulative and superficial and reckless.
There’s a scene with her father, played by Richard Roundtree, where he attempts to explain her behavior as an unintentional side effect of him not trusting people after his wife left. It just doesn’t wash.
We could have forgiven some of this but other issues abounded. For example, the majority of the cast came off as hugely unintelligent. And the affection and loving reaction of her would be love interest, portrayed by Aldis Hodge, to her unfeeling, unloving, selfish behavior, makes no sense at all, unless you fancy imagining a man with no self esteem.l whatsoever.
What happened to movies with believable, identifiable, and lovable characters? Why couldn’t her character be portrayed as someone you can honestly believe is real? Or decent, for that mater? Someone who is having real life problems, not just that she’s crazy?
We felt insulted just watching the various scenes with her. Also, why did 90% of the men have to be portrayed as dogs, completely unfaithful to their ladies? It’s one thing for a man to have thoughts about another woman, like noticing her features, but it’s quite another thing to consciously plan adultery or cheating.
The movie makes fun of straight men and homosexuals, but often does it in a demeaning way.
There was just nothing endearing about most of the characters. This movie was painful to watch. We barely made it through it.
She repeatedly demonstrates a complete lack of empathy. She shamelessly uses people. It’s clear from the beginning that she is unstable. Her work relationships are unrealistic. She’s unprofessional. My girlfriend and so actually felt embarrassed for her.
Look, if you love her like my girlfriend and I do, you will forgive some of these problems and laugh and enjoy some of the movie, but it will test your loyalty to her. It’s a horrible movie. She should be ashamed.