What Men Want is the gender-swapped remake of Mel Gibson’s What Women Want, directed by Adam Shankman. Despite a talented cast led by Taraji P. Henson, the movie failed to impress critics or audiences with its female-centric take on a classic comedy. However, it’s still a mildly entertaining Netflix offering.
Where can you watch What Men Want in the UAE?
What Men Want is now streaming on Netflix in the UAE. If you don’t have one, you can create a Netflix account to watch this movie and other shows on Netflix. Unfortunately, Netflix does not offer any free trials in the Middle East, so you’ll have to subscribe for at least one month.
What Men Want Review
- Mark Cuban cameo
- A couple of funny scenes
- Over-the-top
- One dimensional characters
- Too loud
- Nonsensical narrative
Protagonist Ali Davis (Henson) is an ambitious sports agent working hard for a promotion in her male-dominated agency. Her coworkers aren’t too fond of her, and she’s casually excluded from bonding activities like “secret poker nights”, but she is one of the best agents in her field.
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Not only does her boss pass her down for a promotion, but he also tells her she’s not good at understanding men. Later that night, she goes on a big night out to celebrate her friend’s bachelorette party. At the party, there’s a shaman who gives a special tea. And when she wakes up in the hospital the next morning, our heroine can hear men’s inner thoughts.
At first, she’s not exactly thrilled about her newfound gift, but her overworked and underpaid assistant, Brandon (Josh Brener), convinces her to use her new ability to her advantage. Specifically, to close the deal with up-and-coming basketball player Jamal (Shane Paul McGhie) and prove to her sexist boss that she deserves to be promoted.
Not that funny
The movie has a few chuckle-worthy moments, including a fun cameo from Mark Cuban (whose inner thoughts involve patting himself on the back for being so rich), but there are also too many loud, over-the-top scenes. In one of the early scenes, Ali has a disturbing romantic encounter with love interest Will (Aldis Hodge) that borders on assault, making the idea of the poor man wanting to start dating her afterwards impossible to believe.
And then there is the whole plotline of Ali pretending Will and his son are her real family to seal the deal with the basketball player. It made little to no sense.
The heroine’s journey has little to do with being able to hear men’s thoughts and more to do with her (lack of) ability to act like a decent person. She’s unlikable, mean, selfish, and violent when we meet her. Most supporting characters are one-dimensional, and their inner thoughts are rarely surprising. Surely, Ali knew her assistant hated her based on the appalling way she treated him. And she should know, as a professional adult in the corporate world, that physically attacking a one-night stand (or anyone) is not okay.
Henson’s performance is convincing, if exaggerated. She does do a great job with the awful script given. But, the film as a whole is too loud, and it has too few saving graces. It’s not the worst movie you can stream on Netflix, but better comedies exist, including the original What Women Want.
What are other critics saying about What Men Want?
Austin Burke thought the movie had some funny moments, but it was too predictable and didn’t feel invested in the story.
Movies And Munchies describes most of the film as “uninspired and tired.”
Jeremy Jahns felt some of the movie was funny, but most jokes fell flat. He also criticized the choppy editing.
1 Comment
HAHAH! looks hilarious.