What Women Want

What Women Want begins with an appealing promise: Daming Chen will treat its comedy framework as a route into character rather than an excuse for noise. The early chemistry between Andy Lau and Gong Li gives What Women Want an immediate pulse. The story of What Women Want begins from a specific pressure point: After an accident, a chauvinistic executive gains the ability to hear what women are really thinking. By the end of its 1h 56m running time, the value of What Women Want rests less on novelty than on the care of its execution.

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Daming Chen gives What Women Want a directorial line that is capable of strong moments without finding a complete rhythm from its opening promise to its final movement. The staging of What Women Want is strongest when Daming Chen allows motivation to determine pace instead of reversing that priority. Viewed as a complete piece, What Women Want confirms that the appealing elements never quite settle into a seamless whole across most of the running time. A tighter version of What Women Want would address how emotional turns sometimes arrive before the relationships are ready, yet the surrounding work remains persuasive.

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What keeps What Women Want emotionally readable is Andy Lau, whose choices establish a consistent point of view. In scenes with Gong Li, What Women Want gains tension from two performers refusing to produce the same kind of energy. Li Yuan contributes a separate rhythm to What Women Want and helps the supporting material feel less purely functional. The direction by Daming Chen gives the cast of What Women Want room to connect the quieter beats with the larger ones.

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The craft of What Women Want is defined by performer rhythm, supported by performer rhythm rather than overwhelmed by decoration. Beijing Poly bona Film Publishing Company gives What Women Want a production framework in which comic timing built around character can remain connected to story. Made from a China production context, What Women Want uses setting and design to clarify mood before dialogue has to explain it. The technical finish of What Women Want works because image, sound and editing appear to be serving the same immediate purpose.

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What Women Want finds additional purpose in its examination of embarrassment, status and the gap between confidence and reality. Through the performance of Andy Lau, What Women Want makes that examination feel personal before it becomes broadly symbolic. The idea of the central character repeatedly returns What Women Want to the cost behind its more visible developments. Daming Chen is most persuasive when What Women Want allows the theme to emerge from an uncomfortable choice rather than polished dialogue.

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The plot of What Women Want is built around the uneasy relationship between the central character and an important relationship. For Andy Lau, that relationship gives What Women Want an emotional objective stronger than simple forward motion. The screenplay associated with Josh Goldsmith lets a difficult choice reshape the direction of What Women Want in stages. Although the treatment of the wider conflict could be sharper, What Women Want never entirely loses the thread established at the beginning.

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Overall, What Women Want amounts to a mixed experience best approached with measured expectations and should suit comedy fans who respond to personality and timing. The combination of Andy Lau, Daming Chen and performer rhythm gives What Women Want a specific identity. Although emotional turns sometimes arrive before the relationships are ready in What Women Want, the film recovers through craft and committed performance. For the audience it understands, What Women Want offers enough character to remain worthwhile after the immediate plot has faded.