My Review of 'What Men Want'

The premise of What Men Want kind of makes sense in today's climate, but the way the movie was portrayed makes me second guess this. This movie's predecessor, What Women Want, kind of made sense at the time that it came out. I'll explain.

So this movie is about a black woman named Ali Davis, played by Taraji P. Henson. I guess she's a sports agent trying to get high-profile clients so that she can make it as a partner for the company.

The problem is that it's headed up by a majority of white men, and it seems like an old boys' club that only hires men. Ali notices this and kind of gives up, thinking of it as a glass ceiling. She doesn't think that she can get any higher without being a man.

Through a series of crazy events, she gains the power to hear the inner thoughts of men. The story goes on from there.

I see what the movie was doing by having Ali fight for acceptance in her male-dominated company. They make mention that they had her there as a token black female in the office. In some ways, I found Ali's office to be really out of date and unrealistic. Who knows, maybe these offices still do exist and I could be wrong, but it made me second guess the relevancy of the film.

I didn't pay much attention to it, but I think she's the only high-ranking female in the office. It would have been interesting to hear how she got there in the first place. I realize that would have taken a long time to explain and doesn't really make sense to the story, but it was something on my mind through the whole movie, especially since she's stuck in such a domineering old boys' club.

There was an angle in the movie that I really hoped that they were going to go for, but they didn't. I guess it's kind of spoiling, but not really spoiling, if I mention it. I was hoping that she would get this ability to read men's thoughts and realize that it was better that she thought like a woman because there's opportunities that others in her office weren't privy to because she can think differently.

Also, it would have been fun if the lesson of the movie was that maybe it's better that she thought like a woman because female sports are going up, and that's an untapped market that they need to be getting agents for.

Alas, what I'm trying to say is that there was so much potential in this movie but they went and made the movie quite vanilla. It's quite predictable and, in a lot of ways, boring.

There were scenes in this movie that just kept going. They had a few good concepts in there but didn't really capitalize on the situations.

The cast of characters are amicable enough, but the pacing of the movie didn't help me dive into the movie. It's too bad, because they had a pretty stellar cast in this movie. It's such a waste that they couldn't use the cast more effectively.

Overall, I would say that there were a few points where I would wander off because I was so bored of the movie when I was trying to force myself to watch it. I unfortunately cannot recommend this movie. I tried to like it, and I had high hopes for it, too. For these reasons, I would have to give this movie a 5 out of 10. It was good enough to pass time, but it should not be a movie for you. That's why I write these things. My bad experiences are supposed to save you time. Stay away at all costs.