(2000) Funny, often hilarious, director Nancy Meyers's thought-filled romantic fantasy (screenplay by Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa) has an excellent cast, beginning with Mel Gibson as male-chauvinist prick, Nick Marshall, an ad exec for Sloane-Curtis in Chicago. His ex-wife Gigi (Lauren Holly), who's getting remarried, thinks of him as "a man's man," both charmer and politically-incorrect jerk, blaming his mother (a Las Vegas show girl) for his pampered upbringing.

His 15-year-old daughter Alexandra (Ashley Johnson) thinks of him as Uncle Dad, since she only intermittently sees him or receives his attention. His housemaid regards him as a bachelor unable to do anything for himself. A coffee-shop girl and aspiring actress, Lola (Marisa Tomei), initially resists his attempts to take her out.

Expecting to receive promotion to the 44th floor as creative director, Nick's called to his boss's office where Dan Wanamaker (Alan Alda) explains by way of introduction that with women having become the nation's primary consumer group, "it's a woman's world out there," he's hired Darcy McGuire (Helen Hunt), recently of B.B.D. & O. Confronted with this new emphasis on "female-driven advertising," in an effort to get a feel for the various feminine products, Nick replaces his Frank Sinatra vinyl LP with his daughter's CD of Meredith Brooks and tries on for himself volumizer hair cream, red nail polish, hot wax ("Who would do that more than once?"), mascara, pantyhose, and a Wonderbra, just as Alex and her 18-year-old boyfriend Cameron enter his room.

In a freak fortuity (90% of accidents happen in the home) involving loose beads, he trips and falls into his filled bathtub along with his hairdryer, getting electrocuted. Surviving the mishap, he soon discovers he's able to hear women's thoughts (even those of a French poodle); most of them think he's an asshole.

Failing to reverse the unnerving transformation (standing on his apartment balcony in the rain with his hairdryer), he visits Dr Perkins, who at first considers his claim to be an instance of an "imaginary displacement scenario," until he convinces her otherwise: "Why would you want to get rid of such a brilliant gift?" Telling Nick that he may now be the luckiest man on Earth, she repeats for him Freud's great inquiry of the eternal quandary: "What do women want?"

Maybe Nick with his new antenna can get in tune with every woman's wavelength. Reading into Lola's feelings of fear at getting hurt yet again, he responds with sensitivity and understanding before letting her get him into her bed where at first her thoughts unman him until he again lets her needs lead him: "You were more inside me than anybody!" she cries out ecstatically, calling him "a genius in bed … a sex god."

Similarly, Nick approaches Darcy by listening to her mental musings - "I'll be picking your brain" - to team up with her at winning the huge Nike women's division promotion. As they seem to be functioning seamlessly on the same wavelength - she reminds herself, "Don't fall for a guy at work" - Nick's also paying close attention to other women's worries at work - especially Erin (Judy Greer), the depressed file clerk - doing research by tapping into women's cogitations wherever he goes, and becoming a makeover dad to Alex, taking her shopping for a prom dress (even though he's aware of her intentions: "last night I'll be a virgin").

By not playing games any longer with women - his colleague Morgan Farwell (Mark Feuerstein), who'd formerly admired Nick's suave gamesmanship with the ladies, asks: "Are you officially a woman now?" - he's discovered new insights, such as that men, not women, have penis envy. Lola, however, thinks she has him figured out: "You talk to me like a woman; you think like a woman. Nick, come on, admit it. You're totally and completely gay!"

With Darcy he's found a woman who says what she thinks. In the end, this new man who's become knowing, considerate, compassionate, caring, finally makes up his own mind: "It's never too late to do the right thing."

For another wise take on what women really want from men - the ability to make their own choices - read Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Wife of Bath's Tale" from The Canterbury Tales.

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Copyright © 2009 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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