
Veteran chuckle-peddler Nancy Meyers hits it out of the ballpark again with her raucous romantic comedy, What Women Want. Meet Nick Marshall (robustly portrayed by academy award winning actor, Mel Gibson), he's an ad executive who doesn't have a hard time selling
himself to the ladies (*nudge nudge* *wink wink*). He thinks he's got it all figured out until his boss (Alan Alda) tells him they need to enhance the firm's feminine appeal. Who better than Darcy McGuire (played by none other than [drum roll please]...Ms. Helen Hunt herself)? He's got to prove to her that he's more than a chauvinist pig.
After a hilarious sequence in which Nick (Mel Gibson) tries on female clothing (we're talking stockings and all, folks), he falls into the bathtub with a hair-dryer and awakes with an uncanny ability to read the minds of women. Suffice to say it's TMI overload from the start! A thoroughly bewildered Nick (Mel Gibson) eventually comes to understand a thing or two about those eternally enigmatic estrogen bombs. He grows closer to his neglected daughter and tries to win the heart of his dream gal (you guessed it) Darcy (Helen Hunt). Does he succeed? Guess you'll just have to watch.
What can you say about an actor like Mel Gibson? He's a consummate professional and his animated portrayal of Nick Marshall is perfect. He made me believe that he was a chauvinist asshole and still damn near charmed my pants off! His ability to inhabit a character is unrivaled. What? That's Braveheart! Heck.
Helen Hunt is as radiant as ever in this role. She sure has come a long way since playing the daughter in Swiss Family Robinson! Her sassy urbanity is the perfect complement to Gibson's affected suaveness. The sexual tension between the two is so palpable, I wondered whether there might not have been some off-screen hanky-panky.
I absolutely adored this film. It's smart, sexy, and hip romantic comedies like this that keep me wanting more from Nancy Meyers. The only problem I have with her films is that there aren't enough of 'em! She has a really keen sense of she wants from her actors (no pun intended...[ok,
that's a lie]). I sincerely hope her future output is just as poignant and sexy!
Lann Tiersen