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Taraji P. Henson
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Every year, a handful of movies are dumped to theaters at the beginning of the year, and every year, those movies are inevitably overshadowed by award season contenders. But cinephiles who were too busy checking Oscar nominations off their lists now get a second chance to catch up on the good-but-not-Oscar-bait films they missed, thanks to the era of streaming.
Such is the case with What Men Want—which is now streaming free on Amazon Prime and Hulu—the kind of, sort of remake of the 2000 Nancy Meyers film, What Women Want. Rather than Mel Gibson as Nick Marshall, an alpha male who can suddenly hear the thoughts of women, Taraji P. Henson stars as Ali Davis, a career-driven woman who can suddenly hear the thoughts of men. In both films, the new-found talent works (sort of) against the patriarchy: Mel Gibson finally learns to empathize with women as fellow human beings, while Taraji P. Henson finally learns about the male-only secret meetings holding her back at her job as a sports agent.
For a gender-swapped remake that could have gone very wrong indeed, that more or less checks out, so kudos to writers Tina Gordon, Alex Gregory, Peter Huyck and director Adam Shankman (Hairspray). It doesn’t hurt that they had a stellar Emmy and Oscar-nominated actor like Henson on their side, and a supporting cast that includes Tracy Morgan, Aldis Hodge, Josh Brenner, Max Greenfield and more. Again, is it going to be nominated for awards? No. But with a cast like that, it seems unlikely that one wouldn’t have a least a little bit of fun watching this movie.
Moviegoers agree: What Men Want was already a moderate box office hit when it opened last February, making $72.2 million worldwide against a production budget of $20 million. Now that it is available on two popular streaming services, the film is sure to live on in the popular culture. And hey, if you’re looking for a fun, relaxing break from dreary award season films, What Men Want is just the ticket.
