The CinEmma: What Men Want

What the audience wants is a coherent plotline, but they do not get one in What Men Want. The fantastic acting of an amazing cast including Taraji P. Henson and Aldis Hodge is stifled within a convoluted script.

As a sports agent, Ali Davis (Taraji Henson) has worked for years to become a partner but has been continuously rejected by the vote of an anonymous male partner. Davis then drinks tea given to her by a psychic (Erykah Badu) at her friend’s bachelorette party, hits her head, and wakes up with the ability to hear men’s thoughts. Trying to use this to her advantage, Davis listens to the thoughts of the men she works with to get ahead of the game, and in her personal life to try to connect more with her love interest, Will (Aldis Hodge). Unfortunately, she plays the game too hard and ends up coming across as aggressive and selfish.

The trailer led viewers to anticipate a hilarious, girl-power movie about Davis fighting her way to the top of a male-dominated industry. Instead, they get a confusing compilation of Davis steamrolling every single person in her life before coming to the realization that she needs to put an end to her take-no-prisoners attitude.

The vast majority of the comedic moments come in the credits when it shows the characters each getting their own readings from the psychic. This gave the cast an opportunity to improvise away from the disaster of a plotline.

Maya Baker, who gave the movie a 7/10, said, “It was really cheesy and predictable; I really liked her outfits.”

The movie is rated R, so viewers under 18 will need parental approval to see it, but Common Sense Media says that the movie is appropriate for teens over the age of 15.

CinEmma Rating: 5.1/10