What Men Want

Taraji P. Henson (Hidden Figures, TV’s Empire) portrays Ali Davis, an ambitious yet agitated sports agent that just can’t seem to grab the brass ring at a highly competitive, male-dominated “all boys club” sports agency. However, a simple (albeit ridiculously unbelievable) twist of fate gives her a newfound edge – she can suddenly hear the inner thoughts of all men she encounters whether she wants to or not. The story seems like a cliched and worn out concept… well, because it is – it’s almost identical to Mel Gibson/Helen Hunt’s 2000 What Women Want, the only differences being the reversed gender roles and the male and female leads are black (see, huge difference) (not really). In spite of being completely unoriginal, probably not being lauded by critics or being award winning, the movie is full of lowbrow cheap laughs (toilet humor, fart jokes galore), and is quite in-focus, entertaining and watchable for what it’s trying to be. Tracy Morgan is the scene stealer for the parts of the movie that he’s actually in. The BET-produced film is funny and universal enough to appeal to a larger audience, not to just their core demographic, which might have been their goal here, who knows?

[R]