What Women Want Information

What Women Want is a 2000 American romantic comedy film, written by Josh Goldsmith, Cathy Yuspa and Diane Drake, directed by Nancy Meyers, and starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt. The movie was a box office success with a domestic gross of US$182,811,707 and a worldwide gross of $374,111,707, against a budget of $70 million.

Plot

Nick Marshall, a Chicago advertising executive and alpha male, who grew up with his Las Vegas showgirl mother, is a chauvinist. He is skilled at selling to men and seducing women, including local coffee attendant Lola. However, just as he thinks he's headed for a promotion, his manager, Dan, informs him that he is hiring the talents of Darcy McGuire instead, to broaden the firm's appeal to women.

Also, his estranged 15-year-old daughter Alex is spending two weeks with him while his ex-wife Gigi goes on her honeymoon with her new husband. Alex is embarrassed by Nick, and resents his being protective when he meets her boyfriend.

Needing to prove himself to Darcy and Dan, Nick attempts to think of copy for a series of feminine products that Darcy distributed at the day's staff meeting. However he slips and falls into his bathtub while holding an electric hairdryer, shocking himself. The next day, Nick wakes up able to understand his maid's thoughts as she cleans his apartment. As he walks through a park and encounters numerous women, he realizes that he can hear their thoughts, even those of a female poodle. This proves to be an epiphany for him when he hears the thoughts of his female co-workers (some of whom have slept with him and regretted it). When he goes to a previous therapist, Dr. Perkins (who also disliked him), she realizes his gift: "If Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus, and you can speak Venutian, the world can be yours."

Nick eavesdrops on women's thoughts and uses their ideas as his own, but also begins to develop real friendships with his co-workers. But as he spends more time with Darcy, he is attracted to her. However when he tries to get closer to his daughter, she resents him for trying after so many years of neglect. Nick shrewdly suspects that her boyfriend, who is considerably older than Alex, plans to sleep with her and then dump her, but she does not want Nick's advice.

Nick and Darcy begin to spend more time together, and ultimately they kiss. When he manages to trump Darcy out of her idea for a new Nike ad campaign aimed at women, he later regrets his selfishness, especially as it leads to her being fired.

Nick loses his gift during a storm while trying to find a company secretary, Erin, who (as his telepathic ability has shown him) is contemplating suicide. He is also reconciled with his daughter when her boyfriend rejects her. Nick finally visits Darcy and explains everything. She regains her job and Nick gets fired. But she forgives him, and agrees to save him from himself, to which he responds "My hero".

Cast

• Mel Gibson as Nick Marshall
• Helen Hunt as Darcy McGuire
• Marisa Tomei as Lola
• Alan Alda as Dan Wanamaker
• Lauren Holly as Gigi
• Ashley Johnson as Alexandra 'Alex' Marshall
• Mark Feuerstein as Morgan Farwell
• Delta Burke as Eve
• Valerie Perrine as Margo
• Judy Greer as Erin
• Sarah Paulson as Annie
• Ana Gasteyer as Sue Cranston
• Diana-Maria Riva as Stella
• Lisa Edelstein as Dina
• Loretta Devine as Flo
• Eric Balfour as Cameron
• Logan Lerman as Young Nick Marshall
• Bette Midler as Dr. J.M. Perkins (uncredited)

Awards

For his portrayal of Nick Marshall, Mel Gibson was nominated for the Golden Globe award for Best Actor - Comedy. It won the ASCAP Award from ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards for "Top Box Office Films"--the recipient was Alan Silvestri, it received a Saturn Award nomination for "Best Fantasy Film" from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA. From The Blockbuster Entertainment Awards, Hunt won Favorite Actress in a Comedy/Romance, Gibson was nominated for Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor - Comedy/Romance, Mark Feuerstein received a nomination for Favorite Supporting Actor - Comedy/Romance and Marisa Tomei received a nomination for Favorite Supporting Actress -Comedy/Romance. The film also won the Bogey Award in Platin from the Bogey Awards, Germany. It was also Nominated for the Best Casting for Feature Film, Comedy from the Casting Society of America, USA. It received the Golden Screen from the Golden Screen, Germany. It also garnered a nomination for Golden Satellite Award for Tomei for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, Comedy or Musical, as well as a nomination for Ashley Johnson from the Young Artist Awards.

Sequel

Cameron Diaz has been rumored for What Men Want, a romantic comedy sequel written by Pete Chiarelli (The Proposal).

Remake

A Chinese remake directed by Chen Daming starring Andy Lau and Gong Li was released in 2011.

Certification

The MPAA gave the film a PG-13 certificate, while the BBFC gave it a 12 certificate.