Inspired by the 2000 hit starring Mel Gibson What Men Want stars Taraji P. Henson as Ali Davis (named after the late, great Muhammad Ali) the lone female sports agent working for a high-powered firm. Despite her proven track record, she’s constantly passed over for promotions because she supposedly lacks one superstar client. Frustrated with the “no superstar” excuse she’s been given each time she’s passed over, Ali sets her sights on locking in a number one draft pick, with an “enthusiastic” and over the top father/manager (Tracey Morgan) as her next client.
Completely immersed in her career in recent years, Ali’s longtime friends Mari (Tamala Jones), Olivia (Wendi Mclendon-Covey), and Ciarra (Phoebe Robinson) friends call her out for being disconnected and selfish during a group dinner to which she makes a hollow pledge to do better. Winding out the night at a spur of the moment tarot reading with the outrageously funny Sister (Erykah Badu), Ali drinks a tea concoction created by Sister and wakes up with the ability to hear men’s thoughts. Once Ali understands what’s happened and how to harness her newfound abilities, the pros, and cons of knowing a man’s intimate mind become glaringly clear. With the health of potential love interest (Aldis Hodge) and her assistant Brandon (Josh Brener), Ali discovers the big score may not be the end zone.
In what could have easily been a ho-hum story, What Men Want breathes new life into the battle of the sex’s notion. With a healthy balance of the bad and good, the film doesn’t go overly out of its way to make one sex seem “better” than the other.
While Henson and Morgan brought their comedic A-Game, it’s Erykah Badu that really steals the show. Her depiction of medium/fortune teller Sister is a hilarious balance of a vegan, hood, concerned Auntie, weed smoking, always experimenting with stuff, homegirl. Aldis Hodge makes for a fine down-to-earth man friend and Josh Brener is that assistant/friend that always has your best interests at heart, even when you don’t notice.
What DO Men Want? That’s a great question for the masses but the film wants one thing, to you make you laugh. Fortunately, it does exactly. that. With a consistent story from beginning-to-end, you probably won’t leave with any more insight into the opposite sex, but you will chuckle thinking about Sister’s concoction and Ali’s abilities.
BSO Grade: B+
For BSO’s interviews with Tracy Morgan, Will Packer and more, plus the film trailer, flip the pages
