It's Actually Not That Complicated; Tuesday, Second Period, 10/04.

[died8yearsago]

"Last week," Rosa started, never being one to really spend a whole lot of time with small talk before getting right into things, "we talked about Meyers' directorial debut, and this week, we're going to be looking at her follow up, meta for What Women Want, which is a movie Meyers has stated she didn't even want to direct. She just wanted to write it, and is not even credited as a writer on the film. She'd just broken up with her husband and frequent partner-in-crime Charles Shyer and really wanted to sink her teeth into rewriting a script that landed on her lap called Head Games, which would eventually become this movie. She was really excited for the challenge of retooling it into something better, but Shyer insisted that she also direct it, especially coming off of her directorial debut. And she was all 'but I don't want to direct it' and he was all 'but you have to direct it.' And so she directed it. And didn't get credit for the part she invested so much of her energy in.

"Kind of ironic," Rosa stated with a snort, "isn't it?

"Anyway, the movie had middling success, and most people thought it was okay, with kind of a mixed message because it's meant to be focused on women but just seems like it can never elevate itself above stereotype, and it played a little on some of Meyers' earlier works as sort of an homage to screwball comedies, though it was a little more heavy handed on the whole morality-play of it all. There was a 2019 inverse remake with Taraji P. Henson about what men want, as well as both a Chinese and an Indian remake.

"So let's watch some, and then we'll get into discussing how it was definitely a different time back them, and whether or not we can genuinely say, in good faith, 'well....they tried' and get excited because this is just the threshold to the wide open door that will be leading up into the Meyers Renaissance."

Comments

Discussion - Not That Complicated, 10/04.

[died8yearsago]

So does the film manage to successfully deconstruct the same stereotypes and misogyny that it sets out to criticize? Is it very clear that this was definitely the sort of script written by a woman with a lot of things to say about her recent breakup with a longtime partner? Did Meyers still totally kill it as a director despite being lukewarm about directing it?

Anything you want to discuss is fair game, really, so that they could all pretend this isn't just an excuse to watch movies all semester.