WHAT
WOMEN WANT
What
Women Want is a perfect example of what is good and
what is bad about a Hollywood high concept comedy.
Like Tootsie and Groundhog Day, this film takes a
twist premise and shows a self-centered, chauvinistic
man how to care about a woman and live well. The technique
extends back through Pygmalian (both Shaw and ancient
Greece) and Dicken's A Christmas Carol. Of course
Scrooge doesn't get love in A Christmas Carol, but
it's the same thing. Learning a life lesson by some
cosmic means. This is and has always been a very popular
form.
The
trick comes in extending this twist premise for a
full two hours. Most films that use the twist last
a few scenes. To do it well, you have to work with
character oppositions and theme.
This
film takes a surprisingly long amount of time to set
up the switch of the man who finds he can hear women's
thoughts, but that may be because the writer realized
that that is the most fun part of the switch for the
audience. Once the hero has begun to use his power,
it's so unfair that the game is over very soon. So
the best part comes in seeing a man discover he suddenly
has this power. No doubt the initial thrill would
be incredible.
While
that is a gleeful moment for the audience, it isn't
much of a theme. And this film doesn't have a diverse
enough set of opposing characters, the way a Tootsie
does, to expand the theme and give it some texture.
There
are some fun scenes in this film as the hero takes
advantage of his power. But there is no conflict in
it.
The
problem with the limited theme and the weak opposition
really becomes apparent when this film tries to find
an ending for the twist. Once the hero learns to listen
to women's thoughts and changes his actions to please
them - which he does almost immediately - he becomes
the ideal man.
But
this film seems to go on forever as it tries to find
a way to make the hero pay for listening in on women's
thoughts. Every time I thought they were finally going
to end the movie he would be sent off on another mission
of redemption.
Every
fantasy needs a way to return to the mundane world,
with the hero having learned his lesson. But it should
happen quickly and without false moralizing.
|