Review – What Women Want

Women want silly situation comedies starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt, huh? Who would have thought. This fluffy little movie about gender relations features Gibson as sort of a sexist jerk version of Scrooge, only rather than visitations from ghosts he ends up with the ability to read women’s minds and find out what they’re really thinking about. Production values are high, and for the most part the comedy works despite the lack of romantic chemistry between the stars. Occasionally the story appears to veer toward taking itself seriously as a sincere commentary on gender relations, and that’s a mistake. Further, the pacing is odd; act one spans the first hour and a half, leaving the remaining plot to play out in the final 30 minutes. But if you can stomach something that seems tailor-made to garner blurbs along the lines of “prepare to have your funny bone tickled and your heart warmed,” you’ve come to the right place. Mildly amusing