As a Man, the Trailer for Taraji P. Henson's What Men Want Is Actually What I Want

By Bobby Finger | August 14, 2018 | 2:28pm

Entertainment Movies

In the year 2000, writer-director Nancy Meyers released her only bad film, What Women Want, which went on to become the second highest grossing romantic comedy of all time (without adjustments for inflation). It starred Mel Gibson as a misogynist advertising executive who gained the ability to read the minds of women—and only women!!!—after being electrocuted in a bathtub by a hair dryer. By the end, he’s still a misogynist, but at least he used his new ability to fuck Marisa Tomei a couple of times, prevent Judy Greer from mayyyybe dying by suicide even though he was one of the reasons she was so miserable in the first place (a strange and dark climax!!!), and to get Helen Hunt to fall in love with him after getting her fired from her job as his boss!!!

But that was 18 years ago! And, as you can tell in the trailer for What Men Want, everything’s different now! In this movie, Taraji P. Henson plays a frustrated and disrespected lawyer at a male-dominated firm who gains the ability to read the minds of men—and only men!!!—after falling and hitting her head at a club. She appears to use her new ability to win at poker, take down the asshole lawyer at her firm played by New Girl’s Max Greenfield, make partner, shame misogynists like ones played by Tracy Morgan, and, I don’t know, fall in love with Mark Cuban? Or Shaq? (The romance subplot is unclear, so let’s go with that.) I wouldn’t say I laughed out loud while watching this trailer, but I will say that, as a man, it gave me everything I wanted out of one, namely: a fart joke, Erykah Badu, and zero appearances by Mel Gibson.