December 15, 2000 | Mel Gibson plays for keeps even as he plays for laughs in What Women Want, an unusually satisfying high-concept comedy propelled by extremely potent star power.
As Nick Marshall, a retro, ring-a-ding swinger whose hedonistic life is choreographed to a soundtrack of Frank Sinatra’s Greatest Hits, Gibson offers a perfect-pitch performance that, at its frequent best, merits comparison to Dustin Hoffman’s tour de farce in Tootsie. And not just because, like Hoffman’s deceptive cross-dresser, Gibson’s sexist advertising whiz becomes a better person after trying on pantyhose.
In the opening scenes, as Nick breezes through work and play with the carefree confidence of slumming royalty, Gibson does everything short of winking at the audience to indicate that he, too, thinks the guy is some kind of jerk. At the same time, however, Gibson clearly is having the time of his life by simultaneously celebrating and satirizing the guy’s heedless behavior. He’s especially exuberant during the movie’s funniest flight of fancy, when Nick impulsively dances – just like Fred Astaire, complete with a coatrack for a partner – throughout his high-rise bachelor pad. It’s as though Gibson wants to savor every moment Nick spends on the top of the world while the movie sets him up for a precipitous fall.
The downturn begins when Dan Wanamaker (Alan Alda), Nick’s boss, sets his sights on clients who pitch their merchandise to the “women’s market.” Rightly assuming that Nick has little experience, and even less expertise, in this unfamiliar territory, Dan hires hotshot Darcy McGuire (Helen Hunt) as the firm’s new creative director – a position Nick hoped to land for himself.
When Darcy encourages Nick to better acquaint himself with female-skewing products and services, our hero reacts with all the maturity he can muster: He gets drunk, puts Sinatra on his stereo, and goofs off. That’s where the pantyhose figure into the plot: Nick wears a pair to get a better feel – wink-wink! nudge-nudge! – for female consumers. He also samples mascara, nail polish and similar girlie stuff. All of which may explain why, after accidentally shocking himself with his hair dryer, Nick magically gains the power to read the mind of every woman in his orbit.
Gibson has several other comedies on his resume – some amusing, others unfortunate – and customarily cracks wise even in his most violent action-adventures. (To be sure, he restrained himself in Braveheart, but only because there weren’t a lot of laughs in the script.) And yet, for all his previous clowning around, his performance here is truly surprising, even startling. It’s not just that he makes the most of his graceful physicality to wring every giggle from pratfalls, double takes and the aforementioned solo dance number. Gibson also earns laughter by vividly conveying the mad-max rush of mixed emotions that reverberate inside Nick’s brain as the character peeks inside the hearts and heads of co-workers, passing strangers, potential lovers – and Darcy, who, it will not amaze you to discover, isn’t as tough as she looks.
Nick is by turns deeply unsettled, gleefully intrigued, greedily acquisitive and, from time to time, mildly ashamed. But never so ashamed, you understand, that he doesn’t keep an open mind about his dubious gift. Nick becomes so gosh-darn sensitive that Darcy feels it’s safe to trust him with her best ideas for a new account. Complications follow.
Working from a smart script credited to Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa, director Nancy Meyers (The Parent Trap) delivers a slick piece of commercially savvy craftsmanship that makes a few provocative points about male-female relationships without getting too serious or sappy. In many respects, What Women Want is a new-fangled version of an Old Hollywood romantic comedy, revolving around a charming heel who learns the error of his ways while discovering the kinder, gentler side of an alleged man-eater. (Helen Hunt is nifty, and sexy, in a part that Barbara Stanwyck might have played to perfection years and years ago.) In other respects, however, Women is very much a movie of its time: By really getting in touch with his feminine side, Nick learns to better understand women in general – and his semi-estranged teen-ager daughter (a refreshingly natural Ashley Johnson) in particular – simply by learning to listen. You get the feeling that, if he weren’t a mind reader, Nick could have gleaned many of the same insights by watching more programming on the Lifetime cable network.
The beauty part is, What Women Want scores points and makes merry without pushing anything too hard. Meyers trusts her audience to get what has to be gotten, without being shoved or prodded. A nice touch: After informing us that Nick was raised as the pampered child of a Las Vegas chorus girl, the movie introduces Valerine Perrine and Delta Burke as his none-too-bright secretaries, and leaves it up to the audience to figure out that, hey, these ladies likely are long-time family friends. Better still, Meyers doesn’t hammer away at the obvious when Nick tries to listen to what they’re thinking, and can’t hear a damn thing.
