Movie Review: What's Your Number?

This is a good example of a movie that did not need to be made, yet still holds some power to sway an audience. Well, perhaps it is just me. What's Your Number? is a movie that I put off for a few days before seeing it. I knew I wanted to see it, but at the same time I was afraid of the slog I might be in for. It's not like there was going to be anything surprising about it. Well, I saw it, and it is not a good movie, but I do not regret seeing it. You will need to decide for yourself if you really want to see it, I cannot say it i anywhere near a required viewing sort of movie.



The movie centers on Ally Darling (Anna Faris), a recently fired, thirty-ish woman who has trouble with love. While taking the subway home after losing her job, Ally reads an article in a women's magazine that says women who have more than 20 lovers are unmarriable and destined to be alone. Realizing that she is on the cusp of that magic number vows not to sleep with another man until she finds "the one."

As I work on describing the plot, all I can think of is "why bother?" I mean it, too. There is nothing special about this movie, nothing original, nothing memorable, nothing, nothing, nothing. It is just another in a long line of romantic comedies where you can see the outcome before the idiotic characters do. You look at the reality of their fictional lives and realize that there is no way it could possibly happen. First because no one has that kind of money to throw around, and secondly no one is quite that dumb. Then you move onto the acceptance that this isn't reality, it is a movie, and that is all right, but it goes on to recognize the protagonists as not as altruistic and good as they think themselves to be, rather they are as self centered and egotistical as those they appear to be rejecting.

All right, sorry about that. The problem is that so many of these movies are just the same thing. It is a genre that does not move forward much at all. Every once in a while you will get something special, but each year we just get more of the same thing. Sure, they may have a few moments in them that sucker you in, but then it is back to the same old thing. You can tell just by watching the trailer for this what is going to happen and who is going to end up with who. Perhaps that is just another problem with studios' inability to cut a good trailer these days, or maybe it is the filmmakers not giving them anything to work with. I don't know.

The funny thing about all of this is that I did not hate this movie. It may have dropped a little in retrospect, but as I watched it, I did not hate it. I think that has to do with two words: Anna Faris. Seriously, she has always had great screen presence, is a natural actor, and is not afraid of looking stupid. There are not many actresses like her around. The only other one I can think of is Kristen Wiig, who did a better job of it earlier this year with Bridesmaids.

If you watch What's Your Number? be sure to pay attention to Anna Faris. If you did not know already, you will discover that she is very funny, a natural presence, and that she is doing her best with limited material. She is what makes this movie watchable at all.

I'm done. I don't really feel like writing any more about this movie. While it is not completely awful, you are likely to forget all about within a few hours of seeing it, or within minutes of reading this.

Not Recommended.