This is not Shakespeare or a gripping social realism drama, this is a light comedy made for a mostly female audience and needs to be judged within its genre.
The was a clever remake of the Mel Gibson classic, What Women Want, the only real change was the sex of the main protagonist Ali (played by Ms Henson) she displayed an alpha male approach to life, mainly due to her Dad's upbringing, and thinks she is God's gift to the universe. When she is overlooked for promotion for being a woman, or so she sees it, she is prepared to throw anyone under the bus to achieve her goal. She conveniently overlooks the fact that she had not achieved sufficient in the company to be ready for promotion and be rightly recognized by her colleagues.
This movie is just straight-up-fun from start to finish, the stereotyping of mucho male behaviour as unreconstructed Neanderthals (perhaps a little like Wall Street in the 70's), the so called "boys club" that she criticises is exactly the behaviour she exhibits herself. Men are objectified as sex objects, she is hard drinking, she has the morals of an alley cat, she has a potty mouth and she is going to take anyone down who gets in her way.
On the way she offends everyone including her friends and it is this realization that puts her on the road to redemption. It was great to see the script show clearly how Ali misunderstood the difference between assertion and aggression and how developing the softer skills in negotiation often gain the goal.
Overall I loved this movie, I laughed out loud, Ms Hensen was great at comedy, and the twists and turns kept me interested to the end, it seemed to be a good night for everyone around me in the auditorium.
The was a clever remake of the Mel Gibson classic, What Women Want, the only real change was the sex of the main protagonist Ali (played by Ms Henson) she displayed an alpha male approach to life, mainly due to her Dad's upbringing, and thinks she is God's gift to the universe. When she is overlooked for promotion for being a woman, or so she sees it, she is prepared to throw anyone under the bus to achieve her goal. She conveniently overlooks the fact that she had not achieved sufficient in the company to be ready for promotion and be rightly recognized by her colleagues.
This movie is just straight-up-fun from start to finish, the stereotyping of mucho male behaviour as unreconstructed Neanderthals (perhaps a little like Wall Street in the 70's), the so called "boys club" that she criticises is exactly the behaviour she exhibits herself. Men are objectified as sex objects, she is hard drinking, she has the morals of an alley cat, she has a potty mouth and she is going to take anyone down who gets in her way.
On the way she offends everyone including her friends and it is this realization that puts her on the road to redemption. It was great to see the script show clearly how Ali misunderstood the difference between assertion and aggression and how developing the softer skills in negotiation often gain the goal.
Overall I loved this movie, I laughed out loud, Ms Hensen was great at comedy, and the twists and turns kept me interested to the end, it seemed to be a good night for everyone around me in the auditorium.