Product: What Women Want [VHS] (2000)
Rating: 2.0
What WERE they thinking?
Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt are both fine actors, and no doubt have their choice of dozens of great roles anytime they want them. So how did they wind up in this stilted, overproduced piece of jetsam? I should know by now that any film written or directed by Nancy Meyers is going to stink, but somehow I watched this one anyhow. Big mistake! Every scene feels contrived; you can just see the writers going "now comes the scene where.... "If the same premise had been developed by the "Seinfeld" team, it could have been hilarious. As-is, it's heavy-handed and moralizing through and through. And Gibson gives his hammiest performance since ... well, ever. Ugh! I'm giving it two stars (rather than one) because Helen Hunt's warmth and sincerity make it at least bearable, and the production values are quite good for the most part.