Can a chauvinist learn what women want by hearing their secret thoughts?
In short: In the 2000 romantic comedy What Women Want, a slick advertising executive gains the supernatural ability to hear women's inner thoughts after a freak accident. While he initially uses the gift for personal gain, the experience forces him to confront his own biases and repair his fractured personal and professional relationships.
Directed by Nancy Meyers and starring Mel Gibson as Nick Marshall and Helen Hunt as Darcy Maguire, the film explores the premise of a man finally answering the question Sigmund Freud famously could not. Marshall, a Chicago advertising executive, is a self-centered chauvinist who finds himself outmaneuvered at work when his boss hires Maguire to modernize the firm's appeal to women. After a hairdryer-related accident in his bathtub leaves him unconscious, Marshall awakens with the ability to telepathically hear the thoughts of every woman around him.
The film received mixed critical reception upon its release in December 2000, with some reviewers criticizing it as conventional or condescending, while others, such as Roger Ebert, noted its humor and charm. Despite the lukewarm critical consensus, the movie was a massive commercial success. It earned $33.6 million during its opening weekend—setting a record for the highest December opening at the time—and went on to gross $374.1 million worldwide against a $70 million budget. It remains the fourth-highest-grossing film of the year 2000.
Beyond its box-office performance, the film's premise has proven remarkably durable, spawning several international adaptations and a gender-swapped remake. These include the 2004 Marathi film Aga Bai Arrecha!, a 2011 Chinese version starring Andy Lau and Gong Li, and the 2019 film What Men Want, which reimagined the concept with Taraji P. Henson as a woman who can hear men's thoughts. The original film's legacy is marked by its blend of fantasy and romance, which continues to spark discussions about gender dynamics and the evolution of the romantic comedy genre.
The production garnered various accolades, including a Golden Globe nomination for Mel Gibson and a win for Helen Hunt at the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards. While the film's narrative arc—moving from a man's manipulative use of his power to a journey of genuine personal growth and reconciliation with his daughter, Alex—is often described as a conventional morality play, it remains a significant cultural touchstone for its high-concept exploration of empathy and communication between the sexes.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: What Women Want
- Also: What Women Want
- Also: Wikidata — What Women Want · CC0
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