What Men Want (2019)

In 2000's "What Women Want" it might have been snarkily revolutionary, if way late even then, to suggest that members of the so-called "fairer sex" are complex, fierce and formidable. But 20 years and a gender-swapped premise later, "What Men Want" advances a depressing argument that guys are with few exceptions as competitive, sexist and simple-minded as they always were -- but now, women are evidently changing to become more like them. Taraji P. Henson's fearlessly committed performance almost rescues this story of a desperately ambitious woman gifted with the ability to hear men's innermost impulses, but director Adam Shankman's predilection for the broadest and dumbest possible execution of any given idea undercuts any comedic bite, genuine insight or emotional resonance the film potentially had.