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- "What Women Want"
(Reviewed December 2, 2000)
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I don't think I've liked a Mel Gibson movie since "The Road Warrior," and this movie didn't break that streak. Mel reminds me of a beefier (and somewhat less tipsy) Dean Martin, mugging and goofing
and going all rubbery-faced all the time, not giving a damn about being anybody but himself no matter what character he is supposed to be playing.
As for Helen Hunt, spare me. She seems to have three expressions (the most aggravating of which is the tight-smile, chin-thrust-forward, eyebrows-raised one that is supposed to indicate amused
skepticism). I didn't see even the teensiest bit of chemistry between her and Mel, whom we are supposed to believe falls life-changingly in love with her.
Although every scene featuring Mel-&-Hel drags and bores, the movie is saved from an "F" rating by the mildly amusing things that Mel "overhears" when he gains the ability to read women's
minds. Even those scenes, however, are vaguely anachronistic and condescending. I'm no strident feminist (God knows), but would it have been possible to let even a single female character have thoughts
that ran deeper than musings about faked orgasms, lying about her age, or making long-distance calls to her boyfriend on the company dime?
Also, I liked the fact that Mel's character's 15-year-old daughter actually looked as if she may have been that age in "real life," instead of being played by some 20-something shrew.
A basic flaw with the film was that Mel is just too darn good looking. The premise that a man who really does know "what women want" could have any woman he wanted would have worked a
lot better if the guy in question did not have the built-in advantage of looking like "the sexiest man alive." Imagine this movie with, for example, Richard E. Grant in the lead. (Sheesh, why don't the studios
ever call me during casting? I'm in the book.)
"What Women Want" was directed by "Father of the Bride" and "Parent Trap" director Nancy Meyers. Like those movies, it has a look that is buffed to a high-gloss polish that you could shave in.
Man, it sure would be great to live in one of those clean, neat, perfect universes full of rich, good-looking people with not a care in the world.
And now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go pick up a few piles of dog crap that my inconsiderate neighbors' mutts deposited on the dead grass of my front lawn last night.
Back Row Grade: D
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