Forget "What Women Want." What Mel Gibson wants — wait, strike that . . . what Mel Gibson needs — is material that's at least as good as he can be.

And like it or not, it isn't this at-times crude and much too long comedy (more than two hours, when it should be 90 minutes at most).

That said, however, Gibson single-handedly saves the film from itself. His lighthearted, as-much-fun-to-do-as-it-is-to-watch performance here suggests that — at this point in his career, at least — he might want to stop taking all those big action-movie roles and try making comedies instead.

And that's not to say "What Women Want" doesn't have its good points or that the supporting performers aren't good. But the movie is so overloaded with characters and equally underdeveloped subplots that it starts to topple under the weight.

So it's fortunate for the filmmakers that they have the Herculean shoulders of Gibson upon which to rest the picture's substantial weight. He stars as Nick Marshall, a chauvinistic New York ad executive who's about to get his comeuppance.

First, looking to take the firm in a new direction, his boss (Alan Alda) decides to hire a woman, Darcy Maguire (Helen Hunt), as creative director — a promotion that Nick has been counting on.

Then, after a freak accident that nearly kills him, he suddenly gains the power to hear the innermost thoughts of every woman with whom he comes in contact, and he discovers what they really think about him.

Nick's a pretty resourceful guy, though, and he decides to use that power to his advantage. At work, he starts undermining Darcy's efforts and stealing her ideas. At home, he's finally able to understand his estranged daughter (Ashley Johnson). And at the local coffee shop, he's finally able to seduce the pretty cashier (Marisa Tomei).

But there's also an unexpected side effect of being able to get inside women's heads: Nick suddenly starts relating to them, which is a problem for such an unrepentant womanizer. If that's not bad enough, he also finds himself falling for Darcy around the same time that his devious efforts start to pay off.

That's enough story for the film as it is, but when the film throws in an additional subplot about Nick's possibly suicidal co-worker (Judy Greer) and tries to provide story closure on several others, things get unwieldy.

It doesn't help that the screenwriters (a trio that includes two staffers of television's "The King of Queens") seem to think all women really do think like the characters on cable's "Sex and the City."

Add to that the fact that director Nancy Meyers (who did the 1998 version of "The Parent Trap") can't decide whether this is supposed to be a screwball comedy, slapstick or a mushy romance, and as a consequence, the film is all over the map in terms of tone and pacing.

That leaves it up to Gibson to save the day, and again, he's more than up to the task, giving a performance that's not only funny, but which goes a little deeper than the rather superficial character would suggest.

He's also has great chemistry with co-stars Hunt and Tomei, who are also good (although Tomei doesn't get much to do).

"What Women Want" is rated PG-13 for crude sexual humor and discussions, scattered profanity, simulated sex (done for laughs) and brief drug use (marijuana). Running time: 126 minutes.

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E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com