Gibson gives spark to ‘What Women Want’

In theaters

WHAT WOMEN WANT Directed by Nancy Meyers. Written by Josh Goldsmith, Cathy Yuspa and Diane Drake. 110 minutes. PG-13.

In the new Nancy Meyers movie, “What Women Want,” Mel Gibson is Nick Marshall, a super-successful, hyper-masculine Chicago advertising executive reared not by wolves, but by other, more curious beasts: Vegas strippers.

For anyone familiar with Gibson’s career, that little tidbit probably won’t come as a surprise; indeed, a quick glance at Gibson’s more popular movies, particularly the “Mad Max” and “Lethal Weapon” series, suggests he’s never been too far away from a handful of silicone.

But what might surprise some is how easily Gibson has shucked the rough husk of his former self in favor of a role that demands, at various points, that he try on hosiery, nail polish and mascara – all while slathering his hairy shins with leg wax.

For female members of the audience, the point is clear. If Mel Gibson, an actor who has never exactly traded off his big heart and gentle soul, can become sensitive to what women want, then certainly their husbands or boyfriends can become sensitive to what they want. For them, the film will sing.

But for male members of the audience, those worried that getting in touch with their feminine side might now include a tangle with a push-up bra, “What Women Want” presents something of a threat – one that probably won’t be resolved on the drive home from the theater.

The film, as directed by Myers from a screenplay by Josh Goldsmith, Cathy Yuspa and Diane Drake, is formulaic, slight and predictable, but it’s nevertheless easygoing fun. What makes it so enjoyable is Gibson’s performance as Marshall, a man’s man who literally hears what women think after being shocked in a bathtub filled with women’s products.

Initially, all of this listening is a surprising hardship; time and again, Nick not only hears what women think of him, which is hardly as flattering as he’d like to think, but what women think about everything. Caught in a sudden sea of estrogen, Nick’s masculinity begins to drown.

But not so fast. Enter Darcy Maguire (Helen Hunt), a woman hired by Nick’s boss, Dan (Alan Alda), to corner the multibillion-dollar women’s advertising market. Suddenly, Nick’s superego sees a ray of light. If he can somehow eavesdrop on Darcy’s thoughts and ideas in an effort to steal a major account away from her, he’ll get a coveted promotion. If, on the other hand, he’ll also have to listen to Darcy’s most personal thoughts and insecurities, so be it. Certainly he, of all people, is man enough to listen to someone’s innermost problems, hopes and dreams – right?

Recalling “Tootsie,” “Junior” and especially the 1961 Rock Hudson-Doris Day film, “Lover Come Back,” which also swirled around a couple competing in the world of advertising, “What Women Want” is a date movie buoyed by the chemistry of its cast.

With cameos by Bette Midler, Marisa Tomei, Lauren Holly, Delta Burke and Valerie Perrine, Meyers never clogs the screen with personalities the way Robert Altman did in “Dr. T and the Women.” Instead, she tempers her large cast and reigns them in, allowing each actor to shine as individuals – and not as part of some garishly out-of-control ensemble.

Grade: B

On video

SAVING GRACE Directed by Nigel Cole. Written by Craig Ferguson and Mark Crowdy. 93 minutes. Rated R.

The Grace in Nigel Cole’s “Saving Grace” is Grace Trefethan (Brenda Blethyn), a plucky Cornish horticulturist who gets a nasty little surprise after her husband walks out of an airborne airplane – and dies.

Apparently, Mr. Trefethan was leading a secret life, one that included a saucy London mistress named Honey (Diana Quick) and too many bad investments to count in too many bogus business deals gone wrong.

Now shocked and rattled and penniless – not to mention faced with having to pay off her husband’s enormous debts – Grace is in a quandary. With banks calling daily, checks bouncing by the minute and her close-knit community of likable friends all aware of her embarrassing predicament, she’s at a loss.

Does she sell her beautiful 300-year-old manor house to pay off debts she herself never incurred? Or could there be some other way to come up with the 300,000 pounds she needs to stay rooted in a home she loves?

“Saving Grace” answers those questions with all the verve and style of public television’s “Are You Being Served?” and “Keeping Up Appearances.” But director Cole takes the British farce into deeper territory – Grace is no caricature; she’s a richly realized character who’s genuinely moving in several key, well-written scenes.

As always, Blethyn is superb, as is Craig Ferguson (“The Drew Carey Show”) as her charming handyman, a likable dolt with a big heart whose love of marijuana does terrific things for Grace’s bank account.

Grade: A-

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays in Style and Thursdays in the scene.