WHAT MEN WANT – A Review by Hollywood Hernandez
What Men Want is a clever comedy from the same team that brought you Girl’s Trip and stars Taraji P. Henson in her first leading role in a comedy. It’s a movie where both men and women can learn a little bit about each other. The men are not demonized and the ladies are shown to be less than perfect as well.
Henson plays Ali in the movie. Her father, played by Richard Roundtree (Shaft), is a widower who runs a boxing gym. He taught his daughter that if you get hit, you’ve got to hit back harder. While the lessons she’s taught help her move forward in the “good old boys network” she does develop a reputation as a woman that does have difficulty in dealing with men.
One evening during a “girl’s night out” she has a spiritual connection over a cup of tea with a physic called Sister who is played by Erykah Badu. The “tea”, mixed with some other drugs like weed and ecstasy and a hard bump on the head, give Ali the power to hear men’s thoughts.
The movie is a hilarious romp with the female sports agent using her “powers” to break the glass ceiling at her job but affecting her relationship with a single father she meets who is a bartender at a local club.
The rest of the cast, including Ms. Badu as Sister, is solid but I really enjoyed the scenes with Erykah, most of it ad lib. She stole every scene she played in the movie. (Also, there are some additional Badu scenes at the end of the movie, so stick around until the very end of the credits.)
The movie is rated R for language and sex and runs right at 2 hours. This is a great date movie, just in time for Valentine’s Day, but it is also a very adult comedy. Leave the kids at home.
On my “Hollywood Popcorn Scale” What Men Wants rates a LARGE.
