What Men Want

"She can hear men's thoughts. Let the games begin."

2019 1h 57m EN

😐

6.2

MID

★6.2TMDB · 1,620

ComedyRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Magically able to hear what men are thinking, a sports agent uses her newfound ability to turn the tables on her overbearing male colleagues.

“She can hear men's thoughts. Let the games begin.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Taraji P. Henson
Alison 'Ali' Davis
Aldis Hodge
Will
Josh Brener
Brandon Wallace
Tracy Morgan
Joe 'Dolla' Barry
Shane Paul McGhie
Jamal Barry
Erykah Badu
Sister
Richard Roundtree
Skip Davis
Tamala Jones
Mari

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Adam Shankman
Writers: Brian McKissick, Peter Huyck, Jas Waters
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 3.5× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 7 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Adam Shankman, shot by Jim Denault. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Brian Tyler. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Emma E. Hickox shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Taraji P. Henson and Aldis Hodge and Josh Brener carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "She can hear men's thoughts. Let the games begin.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt7634968 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Adam Shankman directs. Jim Denault behind the camera. Brian Tyler scores. Emma E. Hickox cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 3.5× over at the box office.
2Released 7 years ago.
3Directed by Adam Shankman, shot by Jim Denault. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Brian Tyler. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Emma E. Hickox shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Taraji P. Henson and Aldis Hodge and Josh Brener carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "She can hear men's thoughts. Let the games begin.".
8IMDB entry: tt7634968 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 18 themes, including "telepathy", "bartender", "partnership", "psychic".

The technical file

Cinematography: Jim Denault
Original score: Brian Tyler
Editing: Emma E. Hickox
Production design: Mark Hutman
Makeup / hair: Eric Pagdin
Sound: Frank A. Montaño
Stunt coordinator: Jennifer Badger
Runtime: 117 min · 1h 57m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $20,000,000
Box office: $69,766,483
Return: 349% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: What Men Want (2019)

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Adam Shankman

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Gimly2019-07-17
★ 3/10
I knew there was a What a Women Want reboot in the works, and my interest was zero. I heard they were flipping the script a la genders, and it was still zee - row. Cast Taraji P. Henson in the lead and I was like: "Fuck... I'm gonna have to watch this now aren't I?" And so I did. But I probably shouldn't have. Final rating:★½: - Boring/disappointing. Avoid where possible.
Kamurai2021-01-21
★ 6/10
Good watch, could watch again, and can recommend. While it's potentially problematic for many of the same reasons for the Mel Gibson "What Women Want", I think this is a much better version, and a good modernization. It's also a good way to shift it to a "black movie". Taraji P. Henson does an excellent job carrying the movie and it is full of good humor, and exciting moments. The movie does send a little bit of a mixed message as it seems to indicate that a woman needs to be a man in order to play in a man's world, but it feels more like its about it not being a man's world. This is a good time, my only concern is that she's not a very likable character at the start of the movie.
GenerationofSwine2023-01-12
★ 1/10
Well, it has less that 5 Stars and I think that is a very good thing. Less than a year ago giving a movie like "What Men Want" anything less than a perfect score would have created a Ghostbusters style backlash to anyone that even remotely suggested it might not be better than The Godfather. And then Oceans 8 flopped...and got mainly positive reviews based principally out of fear...and had a cast that mostly seemed disinterested in attacking absolutely everyone that didn't buy a ticket. Now it seems that that critics are OK with giving it a low rating, so long as they still only praise it in the prose review...just in case. So, think of it like the Gibson version of "What Women Want" and then make it raunchy and vulgar to the point of repulsion with views of the opposite sex that would get a lot of men arrested. And then think if it as slightly androphobic...and slightly as in the androphobia is racially based which makes it clear that the message of this film is to virtue signal how woke the they are by making it clear that a certain skin color and gender are evil. In other-words, it's kind of like the original "Birth of a Nation" with it's propagandist depiction of race...meets a romantic Comedy written and directed by Andrew Dice Clay.