What Men Want (2019) User Reviews

I don't get the hate in these reviews.

[sarahilayda1 · 6/10 · 29 May 2019]

I think in the terms of Romcoms this movie ranks above average.

You know what you're getting into by choosing this movie, it's a romcom about a woman trying to figure out what men want. Then how are people hating on it so much? I don't get it. It delivers what it promises, nothing fancy, no plot twists, no unique writing, enjoyable fun acting, just mindless bubbly fun.

Taraji P Henson is a bowl of energy and sunshine that keeps the rhythm of this movie constantly up and high and she elevates the whole movie. The movie really banked on this as well, almost every scene has her which is great.

Supporting characters are barely memorable except Max Greenfield (Who played Schmidt on New Girl) simply because I like the actor. Rest are forgettable.

Plot is simple, nothing that unique but fun, it follows the basic romcom formula but nothing wrong with that.

Are there better Romcoms, yes of course. Are there worse, many.

Don't believe on those 1 star 2 star reviews I'd say, the IMDb rating is quite accurate 5-6 star ballpark is much suited for this movie.

If you're in the mood of bubbly fun movie I'd say go for it. I personally quite enjoyed this movie.

Failed attempt

[Abdulxoxo · 5/10 · 19 January 2021]

This film has a really cool and interesting concept but The story and screenplay by seems to be the real culprit of the film. It's unnecessarily vulgar and crass. The performances are over-the-top: Henson is a talented actress but she needs to start picking her future projects carefully. She tries to be funny, but it doesn't work. It's disappointing as she can do so much better than this. There are also two of the most annoying characters I'll probably see all year. The psychic known as Sister and the father of a top basketball prospect Joe 'Dolla' Barry are cringey. This film even tries (and fails) to shoehorn in a romance between Ali and a barman called Will. Overall, What men wants is a sad excuse for comedy, I wouldn't recommend.

Great fun with no surprises is well worth the watch

[carlos-pires · 6/10 · 11 May 2019]

You already know what you are in for, at least sort of., just by reading the synopsis, but this is a funny movie with a great cast that doesn't let you down. Taraji is a wonderful actress who always delivers. This is not gonna be Oscar material, but it makes for a thoroughly enjoyable comedy with plenty of refreshing moments.

Both Men and Women want the same thing - a decent film !

[Padreviews · 2/10 · 25 March 2019]

Honestly this was rubbish

I can't think of one redeeming feature of it ?

The script was awful full of stereotypes and cliches . Full of thinly disguised racism , homophobia , sexism and misogyny

This was no female version of Jerry McGuire yet it could have been - it could have been a film about female empowerment against a backdrop of male dominated sports agencies .

The sex scenes were embarrassing and diabolical . There was little of any humour and as soon as she received her inevitable knock on the head you wished you'd also been knocked out and woke up in a different film !

If this was television , netflix or Prime you'd stop it or switch channels - unfortunately it's cinema so you feel compelled to stay to the end , sadly I couldn't I tried but in the end I had to walk out . I tried to stay till the end but it was just so flat .

It's so sad that films like this get distributed when there are so many other worthy films out there that never the exposure .

You have been warned !

Rubbish 2/10 Pad.A

WHAT A LOAD OF C..P

[esabrieva-1 · 21 April 2019]

Oh what the heck, I'm just gonna repeat my tittle: WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP

Funny

[pandora1988 · 6/10 · 11 May 2019]

I see a lot of bomb reviews, and I get this is no Oscar Winner. But I laughed hysterically many times. It was precisely what I expected. There were plenty of funny moments, lessons learned and a little romance. Give it a chance. You may like it.

Very Disappointing

[brian-mcintire · 1/10 · 9 February 2019]

My girlfriend and I were looking forward to seeing this. We walked away very disappointed. Teraji P Henson's is a favorite of ours but we found ourselves not even wanting to root for her character.

I like slapstick or over the top humor in measured doses as much as the next guy, but the way her character was portrayed felt more like a mixture of over acting, completely unbelievable behavior in the workplace, and borderline psychotic behavior.

In fact, it was a near perfect portrayal of a psychotic disorder. Through most of the movie she almost completely lacked guilt or remorse, was narcissistic and severely lacked empathy. She was dishonest and manipulative and superficial and reckless.

There's a scene with her father, played by Richard Roundtree, where he attempts to explain her behavior as an unintentional side effect of him not trusting people after his wife left. It just doesn't wash.

We could have forgiven some of this but other issues abounded. For example, the majority of the cast came off as hugely unintelligent. And the affection and loving reaction of her would be love interest, portrayed by Aldis Hodge, to her unfeeling, unloving, selfish behavior, makes no sense at all, unless you fancy imagining a man with no self esteem.l whatsoever.

What happened to movies with believable, identifiable, and lovable characters? Why couldn't her character be portrayed as someone you can honestly believe is real? Or decent, for that mater? Someone who is having real life problems, not just that she's crazy?

We felt insulted just watching the various scenes with her. Also, why did 90% of the men have to be portrayed as dogs, completely unfaithful to their ladies? It's one thing for a man to have thoughts about another woman, like noticing her features, but it's quite another thing to consciously plan adultery or cheating.

The movie makes fun of straight men and homosexuals, but often does it in a demeaning way.

There was just nothing endearing about most of the characters. This movie was painful to watch. We barely made it through it.

She repeatedly demonstrates a complete lack of empathy. She shamelessly uses people. It's clear from the beginning that she is unstable. Her work relationships are unrealistic. She's unprofessional. My girlfriend and so actually felt embarrassed for her.

Look, if you love her like my girlfriend and I do, you will forgive some of these problems and laugh and enjoy some of the movie, but it will test your loyalty to her. It's a horrible movie. She should be ashamed.

Lots of the Jokes are a swing and miss in this one

[leopd12 · 6/10 · 9 February 2019]

Love Taraji and some of the other actors in this movie and wanted to like it. But I walk away thinking this movie is on the bad side of mediocre. Like something you would watch in the middle of the night and you had nothing but basic cable to watch.

The scrip comes off as awkward frequently throughout the movie. Several bizzare lines/scenes that just make you say "wtf" out loud. I wonder what sort of stuff was left on the cutting room floor if this is the stuff that made the movie.

There really isn't much here to draw you in. Most of the humor is jammed in just for the sake of having it.

I can appreciate doing something different with the source material, but this is basically the same exact movie with more sophomoric humor than the original. Any charm that the original had was lost with this script.

Nothin' like Mel Gibson's great movie "What Women Want"

[coastdaze · 2/10 · 1 March 2019]

Flat out this movie was too gross to appreciate the infrequent funny lines. This is about a nasty female in corporate America. I was surprised and disappointed in Taraji taking on this kind of low-class role. For me there was nothing at all entertaining about this movie and it ticked me off seeing another portrayal of this type of woman. I'm trying to think of something to say about the movie, but I can't. It had nothing in it to make it stand out. It was silly and portrayed the ugly, nasty side of some women today. Ultra formula comedy and a waste of film, imo. Gosh, I really dislike it when they put out trash like this...as you can probably tell.

Fun watch, why all the hate?

[phluttery · 7/10 · 18 May 2019]

I thought this was a fun watch. The movie speaks toward what is like to be a woman in the workplace trying to get ahead with the good Ol' boys' club. Probably the same ol' good ol' boys giving this movie bad reviews.

Who was the man in the movie?

[ericsavage · 3/10 · 22 February 2019]

It's obvious purely from the title that the film was going to play heavily on stereotypes, so it was no surprise when the script went out very hard on men. The majority of men's thoughts turned out not just to be sexual, but vulgar. We had a 16 year old girl in our group of watchers, and it was too heavy for a 16 year old.

The real issue was that the female heroine of the movie turned out to be a man. Instead of "what men want", you might as well have called it "what Taraji Henson wants". She was pursuing business deals, doing one night stands, dominating sex, treating co-workers with contempt, everything we were supposed to hate about men, and then being told she needed a special experience in order to understand men? Meanwhile, the most stereotypical woman in the movie was the male PA. If we're going to hit hard on stereotypes, at least play fair.

The original What Women Want did a huge amount to defend women, glorify them and reveal their best qualities to men. What Men Want was mensploitation (if there's such a term, along with whitesploitation) and lacked the class of the original, and while that's not uncommon, I was hoping for a lot more than just a bunch of hoopla laughs. In fact, the movie would have been a lot more fun watching a naive girly woman discovering the secrets of men, learning to avoid their pitfalls and then taking on some of their best qualities to improve herself. That's what the original did.

Don't miss this movie because of bad reviews

[stefan-526-296130 · 8/10 · 26 April 2019]

The movie was really funny and the actors did a great job. Settings were nicely chosen. Camera work was precise. Everything played just well into each other. It was a 7.5+ rounded up to 8 for me.

With so many 1/10 I almost missed it, but surely something seems fishy with these down votes. You might not like it and give it a 5 or 6, but so many 1s seem like some campaign to kill the movie for some reason I don't know.

Just watch it and enjoy laughing and feeling with the characters.

Better than i expected

[whitney4397 · 7/10 · 5 October 2019]

Maybe I liked it because of how low my expectations were. I am someone who is seriously sick and tired of remakes, but this was surprisingly entertaining. The characters were likable and the story line was its own

Nope, not worth the money or popcorn!

[dmb733 · 1/10 · 23 February 2019]

I had been waiting for this to come out but was promptly disappointed. Took my grown daughter out for her birthday and we were both utterly underwhelmed. Just left shaking our heads at what others are saying is good humor...not in my book.

Fun rip off

[muamba_eats_toast · 7/10 · 5 March 2019]

Yes it's a complete rip off of what women want but it's fun and passes the time easily with a fair few laughs. Nothing groundbreaking and crude at multiple times throughout. Don't understand how badly some people hate this movie. Give it a chance it may surprise you after all.

DON'T WATCH IT!!

[avross-98354 · 1/10 · 10 February 2019]

I've never left a review for a movie in my life but I just had to. Everyone has their different tastes but this movie was NOT good. It had a lot of potential to be great but it was terrible for the most part. The profanity is insane and unnecessary. Normally I'm not bothered at all by a little profanity but there was soooooooo much that it was awkward and didn't even make sense. I'm not sure who the writers were but it was ridiculous. There were little moments that were slightly humorous but mostly forced and predictable vulgar dumb jokes. I've heard people say that they liked it but it honestly makes me question their maturity level. Such a potentially great movie idea but horrible execution. Don't waste your time or money. If you're thinking of watching something else...... pleeeeaaase do! Anything but this.

Good movie...

[RosanaBotafogo · 7/10 · 6 March 2022]

Female version of the movie "What women like", surprisingly fun and as a light dose of drama, conquers but doesn't excite, some good questions raised, of course, despite patriarchy and machismo as expected, light and funny... Good movie...

Forced!!!

[msjsavent · 2/10 · 19 February 2019]

This is definitely not one of Taraji's better films...this movie was a complete LET DOWN!!! All the jokes seemed forced...it was an amateur comedy to me.

Fun comedy

[eurom44 · 6/10 · 15 May 2019]

A fun comedy. The main presentation has great facial expressions in this movie.

If I Could Give This 0 Stars I Would...

[jeepyjb · 1/10 · 4 February 2019]

The original version of this script/story line with Mel Gibson was well done. Mel Gibson's character was someone you wanted to see come around, and you wanted the main characters to get it right, and It didn't make fun of the male/female dynamic the way this one does. This movie is full of the equivalent of female dick and fart jokes. Did an actual male person have anything to do with this script? The 2000 version had lovable characters trying to figure each other out, while this one just has that nouveau cliche' of women sitting around hating men. A movie made in the time of the marginalized attempting to assert some dominance over a world where they don't think they fit in, when the real enemy is the economic system.

It's a good laugh

[SavvyJ96 · 8/10 · 8 February 2019]

Whether or not it's "copying" a previous film, I thought it was funny. I laughed. There are a few scenes that are a little "extra" but overall it was entertaining. Everyone in my theater laughed throughout the film so clearly many people found this to be a good movie. So I definitely recommend this movie to anyone who wants a good laugh.

A Chick-Flick, One for the Sisters

[martimusross · 7/10 · 7 March 2019]

This is not Shakespeare or a gripping social realism drama, this is a light comedy made for a mostly female audience and needs to be judged within its genre.

The was a clever remake of the Mel Gibson classic, What Women Want, the only real change was the sex of the main protagonist Ali (played by Ms Henson) she displayed an alpha male approach to life, mainly due to her Dad's upbringing, and thinks she is God's gift to the universe. When she is overlooked for promotion for being a woman, or so she sees it, she is prepared to throw anyone under the bus to achieve her goal. She conveniently overlooks the fact that she had not achieved sufficient in the company to be ready for promotion and be rightly recognized by her colleagues.

This movie is just straight-up-fun from start to finish, the stereotyping of mucho male behaviour as unreconstructed Neanderthals (perhaps a little like Wall Street in the 70's), the so called "boys club" that she criticises is exactly the behaviour she exhibits herself. Men are objectified as sex objects, she is hard drinking, she has the morals of an alley cat, she has a potty mouth and she is going to take anyone down who gets in her way.

On the way she offends everyone including her friends and it is this realization that puts her on the road to redemption. It was great to see the script show clearly how Ali misunderstood the difference between assertion and aggression and how developing the softer skills in negotiation often gain the goal.

Overall I loved this movie, I laughed out loud, Ms Hensen was great at comedy, and the twists and turns kept me interested to the end, it seemed to be a good night for everyone around me in the auditorium.

What a garbage movie.

[sparksaz-91043 · 1/10 · 24 February 2019]

Don't spend your money on this....ever....not even as a free Redbox because anything is better than this movie. This was supposed to be a fun date movie for us but we both left the movie feeling somehow like we were not supposed to like each other. It tried not to be a downer with a few fun types of scenes but it was more of a front to help make you feel better about why women today are not supposed to like or trust men and of course because men are pigs. So unless you are the kind of person that likes beating people down because it is fun for you than don't even give this movie a thought. It's that bad.

A poor remake

[Sergiodave · 4/10 · 2 March 2021]

Yet another remake of a successful movie where women take the lead. I have no problem with the idea, and it worked pretty well in Oceans 8, but if I was a female scriptwriter in Hollywood, I'd be annoyed as hell. Why can't Hollywood for a change make some original hits using female writers and directors. Have some faith.

Feel-good movie. I liked it.

[paul-duguay-67 · 6/10 · 11 May 2019]

I wasn't sure about the movie, at first. The main character was getting on my nerves. She was supposed to, I guess. The more I watched the movie, the more I found it had good values to transmit. Ended up having a good time. Will not rank as a classic, I know, but still worth the watch.