WHAT WOMEN WANT: Blu-ray (Paramount/Icon, 2000) Paramount Home Video

Ever heard the one about the guy wanting to get in touch with his feminine side but needed a bump on the noggin to do it? As far as Nancy Meyer’s What Women Want (2000) is concerned, men come in only two sizes – the touchy-feeling ‘sensitive’ kind, and the ego-driven Neanderthal, whose cocksmanship is unimpeachable, but who still is dragging his knuckles on the Linoleum. If only ‘women’ could sincerely make up their mind what sort of fellow fires their desire, men would know precisely how to react.  Alas, the changeable mind of the average female is in a constant state of flux.  As such, her ‘dream boat’ in the proverbial ship passing in the night, and always unattainable. No real man of flesh and blood could hope to compete. Mercilessly, one ‘reel’ man in this picture is going to give it the ole Joe College try. But according to What Women Want, the much sought-after Holy Grail of menfolk is anything but a guy who can act and think for himself. And so, we get Mel ‘sexy-as-hell’ Gibson, cast as the virile but ruthlessly sexist, Nick Marshall, a Chicago advertising executive and alpha male, whose child-rearing by his Las Vegas showgirl/mother absolutely ruined Nick by feeding into his testosterone-driven objectification of the female form divine.

Uncannily, this chauvinist ideal has educated Nick in the fine art of marketing products to men that train them in the art of seducing women. Nick is very good at his job, if something of a dud/stud in his personal relationships. Now, he expects a big promotion at his advertising firm, Sloane Curtis. Alas, his boss, Dan Wanamaker (Alan Alda), instead announces a new hiree, Darcy McGuire (Helen Hunt) brought in to broaden the firm's marketing appeal – by women/for women. To complicate matters, Nick's estranged 15-year-old daughter, Alex (Ashley Johnson), is staying with him while his ex, Gigi (Lauren Holly), is on her honeymoon with new hubby, Ted (Robert Briscoe Evans). Nick embarrasses Alex in front of Cameron (Eric Balfour), her 18-yr.-old boyfriend, to whom Nick has taken an immediate dislike. Meanwhile, at work, Darcy assigns each member of the firm, including Nick, to develop campaigns based on their tryouts of feminine products she distributes to the staff. While testing an ‘at home’ waxing kit, Nick slips and falls into his bathtub, clutching an electric hairdryer. The shock knocks him unconscious. The next morning, Nick awakens with an unexpected telepathic gift. He can actually hear women's thoughts. Making an impromptu visit to his therapist, Dr. Perkins (Bette Midler), she encourages Nick to use his new-found ability to his advantage. Rather deviously, Nick telepathically eavesdrops on Darcy, stealing and presenting her campaign ideas as his own. His one-upmanship baffles Darcy, but impresses Dan, who believes Nick is truly getting in touch with his feminine side. Instead, Nick becomes attracted to Darcy and she, unknowing of his secret ‘talent’, begins to find him charming. Resentful of Nick's years of neglect, Alex begins to warm to her father’s newfound interests in her life. But she bitterly resents his intervention when he reads her mind, deciphering her plans to sleep with Cameron on the night of their prom.

Nick and Darcy become romantically attached. This, however, does not dissuade Nick from stealing his lover’s Nike ad campaign aimed at women, presenting it ahead of Darcy, which gets her fired.  Nick intervenes, and persuades Dan to rehire Darcy, saying the ad was all hers from the outset. Newly invested in making over the horrendous bungle of all his female relationships, Nick is on the verge of truly getting to know what women want when he suddenly loses his gift during a severe thunderstorm while on his way to intervene in the company’s secretary, Erin’s (Judy Greer) suicide. Nick offers Erin a position for which he previously turned her down. With renewed optimism, she accepts. Meanwhile, the situation between Cameron and Alex sours when she refuses to have sex with him. Heart-sore, Alex accepts her father’s counsel, solidifying their newly acquired father/daughter bond. Believing his love for Darcy can only be strengthened by coming clean, Nick explains everything. Instead, Darcy fires him. Alas, she cannot stay mad at him. So, Darcy forgives Nick with a kiss.

What Women Want is a fairy-tale, the screenplay from Josh Goldsmith, Cathy Yuspa and Diane Drake delivering a ‘one/two’ feminist punch to the punch line, while eschewing the obvious and natural disparities between men and women. This isn’t a movie about men and women, but a man having his epiphany about the women in his life, and presumably, endeavoring to do right by them with a renewed investment of his time and energies, until now, mislaid. Mel Gibson can get away with playing the ego-driven alpha male, primarily because of his stellar good looks. Aside: ever notice how a woman can forgive a man almost anything if she can bounce quarters off his abs? But I digress. It is the on-screen chemistry between Gibson’s stud and Helen Hunt’s savvy business woman that just seems off. Hunt’s ‘sex appeal’ has always baffled me. She needs a slightly foppish male suitor, like Paul Reiser in Mad About You (1992-99) to let her take the lead as the ‘fixer’ in the relationship. Herein, Hunt’s enterprising tower of strength gets saddle-bagged with the vices of the typical romantic ‘love interest’.  She is expected to be decorous (a quality Hunt does not possess) and play second-fiddle as the gal who wants - and gets – everything she asks for, but only by taking two steps back, allowing her guy to lead.  Enveloped in Dean Cundey's ultra-slick cinematography, the movie undeniably looks good; the gleaning girth of the city glistening as it should.  

But What Women Want is a rather thoughtless affair, ineffectually self-centered on reforming a sexist who only thinks he can take mental notes on what the fairer sex desires from their respective mates. The primary objective in Josh Goldsmith, Cathy Yuspa, and Diane Drake’s screenplay is how best to put this male protagonist off his mettle, while casting him adrift with extraordinary powers that allow him to manipulate his learning curve. But has Nick really learned to respect what women want? That is a bigger question never entirely addressed in the picture. And worse, the movie presents Nick’s behavior, generalized as bad, wrong but also genetically male; the template, even the aspired to ‘gold standard’ that women desperate need of reform. By contrast, Darcy is presented as perfection itself; cool, accomplished and put together with a good strong head on her slender shoulders. Yes - Nick and Darcy do get together. But the compromises made along this bumpy road to love are all on his end. The Goldsmith/Yuspa/Drake screenplay infers every man is a work in progress with major room for improvement, while a woman’s definition of improvement is linked only to how well she can bend and mold the man in her life to conform to those pre-ascribed fairy-tale wishes stored up since childhood - a very shallow perspective, indeed. No personal improvement on the part of the woman required? Right.

The women who populate Nick’s world have comparatively minor flaws. Their interests are cerebral and fully-functional, while his are viewed as primal, self-serving and improbably linked to having great sex. Okay – any sex!  According this theory, men serve only those needs women find desirable in them, with the rest unfairly judged in their genetic makeup, either to be forcibly removed or mandated/distilled to a level acceptability. Men's needs are deemed child-like (boys with toys), idiotic and superficial. Worse, the screenplay infers a good man is only as effective as his check book or command performance given in the sack. If this really is 'what’ women want, then the movie is more of a sad indictment on femininity in general, and, most definitely, on society as a whole. Interestingly, when Nick first realizes he can read women’s minds, one of the first he comes in contact with is Muslim. This clip was excised from the finished print, though ironically, a snippet from this hilarious encounter made its way into the original theatrical trailer. In the final analysis, What Women Want is not so much about what all women want, but the strange and limiting desires born of some of their sex, trying to convince the rest of their sisterhood such aspirations are worthwhile, while blindsiding the men who struggle daily – perhaps even hourly, to keep up with these ever-changing demands.

As yet unavailable in North America, Icon Home Entertainment’s Blu-ray release of What Women Want is, despite some mislabeling, ‘region free’ – not ‘region B-locked’ and looks very impressive with bold yellows, reds, blues, very pristine whites and deep and enveloping blacks.  Contrast and fine detail are perfectly rendered. While the image can appear a tad soft, edge-enhancement is only marginally detected. No untoward DNR, but there are sporadic hints of video-based noise. We get two audio tracks – DTS 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1. The DTS is preferred for overall improvements to the crispness in dialogue, and smooth separation of SFX and Alan Silvestri's marvelous score. Apart from an engaging commentary by Meyers, we also get junkets produced at the time the movie was being promoted, featuring cast and crew, plus a ‘quiz game’, TV spots, and an original theatrical trailer.

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)

3

VIDEO/AUDIO

4

EXTRAS

2.5