What Women Flip Over

Because his character does nothing but wrong, it’s necessary to believe that actor Mel Gibson does everything right to fully enjoy his new starring vehicle, “What Women Want.”

A picture constructed with Mel-aholics in mind, “What Women Want” is a vaguely amusing formulaic comedy with a premise that turns out to be more discomforting than endearing: that chauvinistic Chicago advertising executive Nick Marshall (Gibson) suddenly finds himself with the ability to literally hear what women think.

“What Women Want” is written by “The King of Queens” supervising producers Josh Goldsmith & Cathy Yuspa and directed by Nancy Meyers, who co-wrote and directed the enjoyable “Parent Trap” remake of a few years back. But despite its contemporary “women rule” window dressing, its foundations are a lot more ancient.

For one thing, the film’s underlying plot of a rivalry between two advertising executives, one a hard-working woman, the other a womanizing man who takes unfair advantage of her, is rather close to the outline of that archaic 1961 Doris Day-Rock Hudson vehicle “Lover Come Back.”

For another, Nick Marshall’s character is such an anachronistic Rat Pack knockoff, down to the lipstick kiss on his face, his love of Frank Sinatra and his willingness to break into a Gene Kelly-influenced soft shoe at the slightest provocation, that you’ll think at times you’ve wandered into the long-delayed remake of “Ocean’s 11.”

Marshall, all the women in his life (and there are many) will tell you, is a man’s man who, despite his remarkable success as a seducer, doesn’t get what women are about. “He’s the total bachelor and the least politically correct man in the company” is the word on him at the Sloane/Curtis Agency, where Marshall’s angling to be named creative director.

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The good thing about having the handsome and charming Gibson in a role like this is that it’s not hard to see why he might be catnip to so many. But that doesn’t mean that shots of Marshall trying on panty hose or briefly pretending to be gay are automatically funny (they’re not), or that we’re willing to suffer through his character being several different kinds of jerk for almost the entire film so we can experience the uncertain pleasure of having the big lug finally see the light (praise be!) just before the credits roll.

Marshall’s professional troubles begin when his boss, Dan Wanamaker (Alan Alda), tells him he’s being passed over for that promotion he wanted. The ad game is changing, Wanamaker says; females 16 to 24 are the fastest-growing consumer group in the country, spending $40 billion per year, and Marshall’s Swedish Bikini Team approach to advertising doesn’t cut it with them.

Which is why the job of creative director is going to the person Marshall fears the most, Darcy Maguire (Helen Hunt), a top executive with the reputation of being “a real man-eater” (as opposed to the fake kind). Marshall takes an instant dislike to Maguire, as well as to her insistence that everyone in the agency take home a box of products for women and try to figure out new ways to sell them.

It’s in the midst of getting drunk, painting his toenails, trying on panty hose, etc., that Marshall has an electrical accident and wakes up with this uncanny ability to hear what is on women’s minds. At first this gift terrifies him (“It’s personal, private stuff, things no one on earth is supposed to hear”), but soon a therapist (an unbilled Bette Midler cameo) inadvertently sets him straight. “If you know what women want,” she tells him, “you can rule.”

What this means in practice is that Marshall goes from being a chauvinist jerk to being a devious jerk, literally reading rival Maguire’s mind and more or less stealing her ideas to undercut her at the office and make himself, if possible, more smug and self-satisfied than ever. Yes, there are some laughs here, but not enough to make up for the disagreeableness involved.

While working out new ways to be conniving, Marshall has to deal with the thoughts of several other women, including his estranged teenage daughter (Ashley Johnson) from a failed marriage and a desperate coffee-shop counter girl (Marisa Tomei). These other women have a less consistently Olympian view of Marshall, an attempt at giving the film the kind of comic balance it never really achieves.

“What Women Want” also takes a few shots at being poignant, but they play more like afterthoughts. In fact, it says a lot about this film that the most moving moment it provides is a Nike commercial for female runners created by the real-life Weiden-Kennedy Agency. When that’s your emotional high spot, you know you’re in trouble.

* MPAA rating: PG-13, for sexual content and language. Times guidelines: some risque material but all fairly mild.

‘What Women Want’

Mel Gibson: Nick Marshall

Helen Hunt: Darcy Maguire

Marisa Tomei: Lola

Alan Alda: Dan Wanamaker

Ashley Johnson: Alex Marshall

An Icon/Wind Dancer production, released by Paramount Pictures. Director Nancy Meyers. Producers Nancy Meyers, Bruce Davey, Matt Williams, Susan Cartsonis, Gina Matthews. Executive producers Stephen McEveety, David McFadzean, Carmen Finestra. Screenplay Josh Goldsmith & Cathy Yuspa. Story Josh Goldsmith & Cathy Yuspa and Diane Drake. Cinematographer Dean Cundey. Editors Stephen A. Rotter, Thomas J. Nordberg. Costumes Ellen Mirojnick. Music Alan Silvestri. Production design Jon Hutman. Art directors Gae Buckley, Tony Fanning. Set decorator Rosemary Bradenburg. Running time: 2 hours, 7 minutes.

In general release.