What's Your Number?
Review by Anthony Morris
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What's Your Number?
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This was always going to be a tricky idea to bring off : fresh from
losing her job and all the soul searching that brings – especially when
you end up sleeping with your boss the first night he’s no longer your
boss - Ally Darling (Anna Faris) reads a magazine article that claims
that having more than twenty lovers basically renders a woman unfit for
marriage. The film itself realises this is kind of silly.
It
results in some clumsy dialogue as it tries to explain that while
Ally is now going to try and avert spinsterhood by going back over her
twenty ex's – what, you thought she would have more or less than the
magic number? – she's really doing it in an attempt to figure out what
she really wants, not because a magazine article told her to. It's
always a bad sign in high concept films when they have to start
tinkering around the edges like that, but for the most part this
ignores the essentially stupid nature of her quest in favour of a bunch
of cheap jokes about the duds she once dated and the growing romance
that's budding between her and her frequently towel-clad neighbour
(Chris Evans). Often What's Your Number?
seems to be fighting against its better instincts : the relationship
between Faris and Evans ticks along nicely and then suddenly they're
playing strip basketball because unless you do something crazy there's
no way they could be falling for each other, right? Faris
herself is both funny and likable when she's allowed to be blunt and
funny, but when she's shoehorned into the traditionally rom-com heroine
role she's, well, just another rom-come heroine. And when you're only occasionally funny - as What's Your Number? is - that's the last thing you need. 2.5 out
of 5
What's Your Number?
Australian release: 13th October,
2011
Official
Site: What's Your Number?
Cast: Anna Faris, Chris Evans, Zachary Quinto, Ari Graynor
Director: Mark Mylod
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