Movie Critics Unfamiliar With Discrimination May Not Get “What Men Want”.

*** Spoilers below. Proceed at your own risk. ***

Critics’ reviews of Taraji Henson’s What Men Want have so far been tepid.

Here’s a sample:

New York Post: (Director) Shankman was free to be creative and even a tiny bit profound. But instead of smarts, we get farts.

Los Angeles Times: Henson is a gifted actress…but the film around her is harried, messy and woefully underwritten.

CNN: A mildly pleasant but significantly flawed vehicle.

And the most egregious is this condescending opening paragraph in the New York Times’ review:

What Men Want presumes a lot of things about its viewers. One is that they won’t tolerate a satire of workplace sexism if it doesn’t sometimes put the woman in her place.

Movies are an art form.

Outside of box office receipts and franchise value (which serious movie critics say they do not care for), a movie’s success is measured in subjective ways: the beauty of the cinematography or costumes; the seamless editing; the quality of the acting or screenplay; the special effects and in the case of documentaries, informational value.

All these subjective factors are manipulated, reworked and finessed to achieve the holy grail of movie-making: an emotional response from the audience.

Directors and writers know this. Through decades of hard work and experience, master story tellers like Steven Spielberg and James Cameron perfect stories that invoke our emotions — from sadness to joy, anger to disbelief. “Sticking the landing” requires a near-perfect emotional arc — that invisible string that draws you into the story and leaves you skipping a breath — and rewards the creators with a movie for the ages.

Based on this measure, I loved “What Men Want”.

When Taraji Henson’s character — Ali — mistakenly thought she was receiving a promotion and sat in the board room humiliated as a less-deserving male colleague was promoted, I was taken back to November 9, 2016, sitting in a conference room with distraught women colleagues as it became apparent the less qualified candidate had won the U.S. Presidency. It was palpable — the pain and anger felt by the women in the room as they relived the years of being passed over as a result of institutional bias.

When Ali’s supervisor told her to “stay in your lane”, I was reminded of the years my own career stagnated in an esoteric area of investment banking — I’m Asian, so I’m great at quantitative finance, right? — even as my peers (yes, they were typically white men and women) were given opportunity after opportunity to switch groups, undertake informal leadership positions that broadened their network within the firm and work on projects abroad. And I was the VP who spoke three languages!

When Ali struggled to gain acceptance from a client who preferred to work with a married woman, I reflected on the millions of women and men who have elected to be single, but are socially judged and penalized by discriminatory taxation, social security and housing laws and regulations.

Thankfully, there were also happier, inspiring moments.

Ali’s father initially expressed skepticism at her new boyfriend (“he won’t last three months”). But over a rooftop barbecue, both men unexpectedly bonded over their shared experience as single fathers. The momentary connection between two strong-willed, black, working-class men — the father a gym owner, the boyfriend an aspiring bar owner — was a profoundly beautiful moment captured on film. Hardship binds us in a way an easy life does not — it is okay to start at a “lower” station in life. If all movies can be as hopeful.

Part of The New York Times’ criticism was the movie’s “insistence” that Ali “receive her comeuppance” by learning how to respect her gay assistant. I saw no issue in the story line — did The Times expect a flawless character just because she was a black woman? In fact, I loved the implication of how victims of discrimination often end up discriminating against others. This level of movie making is nuanced, complex and plenty smarts, not farts (see New York Post reference above).

Last but not least, there was a tangential but important story line where Ali discovered, through her mind-reading ability, that a white male colleague had been a silent ally. With his help, Ali realized her competitive nature sometimes clouded her decisions and that she needed to be a better team player. In the movie’s finale, both triumphantly resigned to join forces and start their own agency, right after Ali received her promotion! The lesson is one many younger women and minorities have had to learn: we have allies, we have work to do to improve ourselves, we will not and cannot allow sexism and racism to change who we are.

Let’s get one thing straight.

You don’t have to be a woman or a minority to suffer discrimination or unfair treatment.

When you do experience bias however, the sting of rejection stays with you forever — less painful, eventually painless — but you remember where and when it happened.

Which is why the silent minority (or majority?) of Americans who watch What Men Want will get the movie.

And why critics at elite media properties like The New York Times did not.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are my own and do not express the views or opinions of any organization with which I may be affiliated.