The film features Brandon, Ali's gay assistant, whose sexuality is an incidental aspect of his character. While his personal life is briefly touched upon through Ali's mind-reading ability, his identity is neither central to the plot nor depicted in a way that is overtly positive or negative, simply existing as part of the ensemble.

The film is a gender-flipped remake of "What Women Want" (2000). The protagonist role, originally a male character (Nick Marshall), is portrayed by a female character (Ali Davis) in this version, constituting a clear gender swap of the central character.

The protagonist of "What Men Want," Ali Davis, is a gender-flipped and race-swapped version of the original film's protagonist, Nick Marshall, who was portrayed as white.