Back in 2000, Mel Gibson played a character who magically gained the ability to read female minds in What Women Want. Nearly two decades later, 2019’s What Men Wants provides a gender-swapped update.

Sports agent Ali Davis (Taraji P. Henson) fails to earn a much-desired promotion because she seems unable to connect to the male mindset. When she bonks her head at a bachelorette party, however, this changes, as Ali can now hear men’s thoughts.

Though she initially resists this “gift”, Ali eventually embraces it. In particular, she uses her psychic skills in an attempt to schmooze Joe “Dolla” Barry (Tracy Morgan), the flaky father of a presumptive top NBA draft pick (Shane Paul McGhie) so she can sign the athlete and get her upgrade to partner.

Nothing about Women excelled, but the movie came with just enough cleverness and charm to make it a fairly likable romantic comedy. With a US gross of $182 million, it also was the year’s fifth biggest hit, a fact that makes it surprising Paramount waited this long for the logical follow-up.

While I didn’t love Women, it looks like a stone-cold classic compared to Men. Limp, long and tedious, Men offers an unsatisfying reboot.

Too many trailers for comedies include all the movie’s actual funny bits, and Men proves guilty of that sin. Yeah, you can find a couple of minor laughs in the end product that don’t already appear in the promos – as well as some alternate lines that substitute for gags in the ads – but if you’ve watched the preview, you’ve heard most of the film’s good jokes.

In a 90-minute movie, this may prove less problematic. However, Men spans a borderline soul-crushing 117 minutes.

On the surface, that doesn’t sound like an excessive running time – Women went 10 minutes longer! - and it wouldn’t be if Men managed to utilize that space well. Instead, it pursues its plot in such a lazy, slow manner that those 117 minutes feel more like 217 minutes.

Man, does this movie move at a sluggish pace! We need to wait about 30 minutes before Ali even gains her psychic abilities, and Men fails to use the lead-up well.

It takes at least twice as long as it needs to establish the characters and situations, and it diverts from the main narrative too often to deliver unnecessary jokes.

Once Ali does get her new skills, not much improves. Yeah, some of the thoughts Ali hears offer minor chuckles, though again, the funniest already appear in the promos.

Other than these minor laughs, Men continues on its dull way. It lacks good pacing and bops from one scenario to another with no sense of rhythm or real logic.

All of this leads to a profound sense of boredom, and the absolute inevitability of the story/character beats doesn’t help. Look, I don’t mind that we know exactly how Men will end, as I view this kind of story as one in which the journey matters more than the destination.

However, when the journey seems so boring and slow, the destination becomes a bigger factor. Given how disenchanted I felt with Men before it got to the ending, a couple of surprised might’ve been nice.

And without offering spoilers, I guess Men does catch us off-guard in some minor ways. These “curveballs” are really minor, though, and not enough to redeem the monotony of the prior 100 or so minutes.

Men does boast a pretty good cast, but I can’t claim any bring their “A”-game. The usually effective Henson overacts relentlessly, perhaps in a desperate attempt to sell the lousy material.

It doesn’t work, as the normally charming Henson becomes annoying. Morgan sleepwalks through his role as the Levar Ball-esque father, and others barely register.

Men does come with one surprisingly progressive casting decision: the two men Ali romances are significantly younger than Henson. Given how often movies romantically pair men with substantially younger women, it’s nice to see the opposite occur.

Like its Mel Gibson-led sibling, I didn’t expect What Men Want to bring me a cinematic revelation, but I thought it could offer an amusing, charming rom-com. Instead, it turns into a lazy, witless waste of time.

Footnote: a sequence during the end credits shows Ali’s friends as they visit the psychic.

What Men Want appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.35:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became a pleasant presentation.

Sharpness was positive. Only minor softness crept into wide shots, so the image remained pretty tight and well-defined at all times.

I noticed no issues with shimmering or jaggies, and edge haloes failed to appear. Print flaws also failed to mar the presentation.

Men went with a teal-influenced palette that sprinkled in a fair amount of orange/amber as well. Within the movie’s color design, the tones seemed solid.

Blacks were dark and deep, while shadows demonstrated nice smoothness. This was a consistently satisfying image.

The Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mix of Men showed scope generally typical of the comedy soundfield. That said, a few elements occasionally allowed it to open up in a satisfying manner.

These added some immersiveness, as did a few other exteriors, but those instances remained fairly infrequent. The mix did use the score and songs in a broad, engaging manner, though, and the whole package fit together smoothly.

Audio quality seemed good. Speech was distinctive and natural, without edginess or other issues.

Music seemed warm and dynamic, while effects showed nice clarity and accuracy. Bass response delivered nice punch. The mix suited the story and kicked into higher gear when necessary.

The disc comes with a mix of extras, and we begin with an audio commentary from director Adam Shankman. He offers a running, screen-specific discussion of how he came to the project as well as cast and characters, story and characters, sets and locations, music, editing and cut scenes, photography and connected domains.

Shankman brings a nice discussion of the film here. At times, he leans toward happy talk, but he gives us more than enough useful notes about the project to make this a worthwhile commentary.

10 Deleted/Extended Scenes fill a total of 31 minutes, eight seconds. An alternate opening packs in a bunch of clumsy exposition, while other segments focus more on expanded character domains. Some of these offer interesting tangents, but none seem like sequences that clearly needed to make the film.

The scenes all include introductions from Shankman, as he tells us background for the clips as well as why he cut them. He offers useful notes.

A Gag Reel goes for four minutes, 53 seconds and involves the usual goofs and silliness, so don’t expect much. It opens with another Shankman intro, but he literally just says “welcome to our gag reel”, so this opening seems pointless.

A few featurettes follow, and The Dream Team lasts 15 minutes, 37 seconds. It includes notes from Shankman, producer Will Packer, and actors Taraji P. Henson, Tracy Morgan, Aldis Hodge, Erykah Badu, Richard Roundtree, John Brener, Max Greenfield, Tamala Jones and Wendi McLendon-Covey.

“Team” discusses Shankman’s impact on the production as well as cast and performances. This becomes a pretty fluffy piece, though some shots from the set add value.

With Flipping the Narrative, we get a three-minute, 32-second reel that features Shankman, Packer, Henson, and co-writers Jas Waters and Peter Huyck. “Flipping” examines the movie’s feminist themes as they relate to the lead. It seems fairly self-congratulatory and not very informative.

What Do Men Want? runs four minutes, 29 seconds and involves Badu, Packer, Henson, Jones, McLendon-Covey, Morgan, Roundtree, Shankman, Greenfield, Hodge, Bremer, and actors Phoebe Robinson, Lisa Leslie, Chris Witaske, Jason Jones, Brian Bosworth, and Shane Paul McGhie.

They muse about the title subject as well as whether they’d want to be able to read minds and similar topics. It’s a cute but insubstantial reel, though Badu’s version of the movie amuses.

Next comes Poker Night, a three-minute, 51-second featurette with Packer, Henson, Morgan, Witaske, and actors Grant Hill and Mark Cuban. They talk about shooting the poker scene. This turns into another fluffy program.

Finally, Ali + Athletes goes for two minutes, 53 seconds and provides remarks from Shankman, Packer, Bosworth, Morgan, Cuban, Henson, Hodge, Jones, Brener, producer James Lopez, and actors Devonta Freeman, John Collins and Shaquille O’Neal. The focus here goes to cameos, and it gives us a bland reel.

A faux informercial called Sister Spills the Tea lasts one minute, 39 seconds. In this clip, the Erykah Badu character peddles her services. It offers mild amusement.

We also find a DVD copy of Men. It lacks any of the Blu-ray’s extras.

Despite the potential to offer a fun update on the 2000 Mel Gibson film, What Men Want doesn’t work. The movie devolves into a sluggish, dull series of mostly lame jokes. The Blu-ray brings positive picture and audio as well as a collection of supplements that mixes very good material with mediocre fluff. Men becomes a slow disappointment.