It was the year 2000. Low-rise jeans were becoming a thing, everyone was terrified of the Y2K bug that never happened, and Mel Gibson was somehow the biggest romantic lead on the planet.
Basically, if you walked into a theater in December of that year, you were likely there to see What Women Want.
This movie is a total trip to look back on. You’ve got Mel Gibson—the guy from Braveheart and Lethal Weapon—playing a chauvinistic advertising executive named Nick Marshall. Then you have Helen Hunt, fresh off her Oscar win for As Good as It Gets, playing Darcy Maguire, the "icy" professional who steals the promotion Nick thought was his.
The premise is pure high-concept Hollywood: Nick gets electrocuted in a bathtub while wearing pantyhose and trying to "think like a woman" for an ad campaign. Suddenly, he can hear everything women think. Like, everything.
The Weird Logic of Nick Marshall’s "Superpower"
Honestly, the way this movie handles telepathy is kind of chaotic. Nick doesn't just hear deep desires; he hears every fleeting, neurotic, and mundane thought from every woman within a city block.
It starts out as a nightmare for him. He realizes the women in his life—his secretary, his daughter, even the woman at the coffee shop—actually think he’s a massive tool. Which, to be fair, he is.
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But then, because this is a Nancy Meyers film, things take a turn toward the "sensitive man" archetype. Nick realizes he can use his "gift" to climb the corporate ladder. He literally steals Darcy’s ideas straight out of her brain and pitches them as his own.
Why the Nike Campaign Actually Worked
One of the most famous parts of the movie involves a Nike ad. Remember, this was 2000. The ad features a woman running alone, with a voiceover about how the road doesn't care if she's wearing lipstick or if she's "one of the guys."
At the time, audiences actually cheered during this scene. It felt revolutionary. Looking back, it’s a bit ironic that a movie about a man stealing a woman’s internal monologue was trying to sell us on female empowerment. But hey, it made $374 million worldwide, so someone was buying it.
The Chemistry (or Lack Thereof) Between Mel and Helen
You’d think pairing two of the biggest stars of the era would be a slam dunk. And in many ways, it was. Mel Gibson actually has a weirdly great flair for physical comedy. The scene where he’s trying to wax his legs and puts on mascara is legitimately funny, mostly because he throws himself into the slapstick of it all.
Helen Hunt has a tougher job. She has to play the "straight man" to Gibson’s antics. Her character, Darcy, is supposed to be this formidable "man-eater" in the boardroom, but the script spends most of its time making her fall for a guy who is actively gaslighting her with his mind-reading powers.
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- The Cast: Mel Gibson, Helen Hunt, Marisa Tomei, Alan Alda.
- The Director: Nancy Meyers (the queen of high-end kitchens and cozy sweaters).
- The Box Office: It was the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2000.
- The Legacy: It spawned a gender-swapped remake, What Men Want, starring Taraji P. Henson in 2019.
Did What Women Want Actually Age Well?
If you ask a critic today, they’ll probably tell you it’s a bit "cringey."
There's a subplot with a character named Erin (played by a young Judy Greer) that is surprisingly dark for a lighthearted rom-com. She’s a "file girl" who feels invisible and is contemplating suicide. Nick hears her thoughts and "saves" her by finally acknowledging her existence and giving her a job. It's meant to show Nick's growth, but it feels a little heavy-handed now.
Also, the whole thing with Marisa Tomei’s character, Lola, is pretty rough. Nick uses his powers to become the "perfect lover" for her, only to ditch her once he’s bored. It’s definitely not the behavior of a hero by 2026 standards.
The Nancy Meyers Effect
You can't talk about this movie without talking about Nancy Meyers. Even though she didn't write the original script (she did a massive uncredited rewrite), her fingerprints are all over it. The Chicago offices are gorgeous. The apartments are aspirational. Everything feels expensive and slightly polished.
She has this way of making even a chauvinist like Nick Marshall seem redeemable because he lives in a world that looks like a West Elm catalog.
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The Real Takeaway: It’s a Time Capsule
At the end of the day, What Women Want is a fascinating look at what we considered "progressive" twenty-five years ago. It’s a movie that thinks it’s being feminist by showing a man learning to listen, even if he has to literally use magic to do it.
Is it a masterpiece? Probably not. Is it a fun, nostalgic watch if you want to see Mel Gibson do a Sinatra-style dance routine with a coat rack? Absolutely.
If you’re planning on revisiting this one, keep an eye out for a very young Logan Lerman playing a young Nick Marshall. It’s one of those "wait, is that him?" moments.
What you should do next: If you're in the mood for more Nancy Meyers-style comfort but want something that feels a bit more modern, check out The Intern or It's Complicated. They have that same "rich people with problems" vibe but with a bit more self-awareness. Or, if you want to see how the premise holds up today, give the 2019 remake What Men Want a stream; it flips the script in a way that’s actually pretty refreshing.