‘What’s Your Number?’ is the story of Ally (Faris), a single lady with a fear of forever being on her own. After a magazine article backs up these fears, she has an epiphany- she will not sleep with another man until she’s sure he’s the one. Making a deal with her neighbour Colin (Chris Evans), the pair track down the twenty men she has, ahem, ‘taken to bed’, to see if she has overlooked Mr. Right. As the experiment delivers mixed results, she begins to realise that sometimes you can’t live life by the numbers.
It’s an undeniable truth that this is simply another attempt to tweak the formula of a rom-com just that little bit, only to deliver the same old chestnuts about living life and not chasing happiness with formulas and deadlines. The thing is, it’s just about likeable enough to get away with it. A combination of the leads’ charm (Faris and Evans genuinely seem suited on screen) and the frankly ingenious stroke of getting an array of famous faces to turn up as Ally’s exes (you will exclaim ‘is that…?’ more than a couple of times during the movie) mean the story keeps rolling along at an acceptable and enjoyable pace.
Faris made her name as the actress unafraid to get her hands dirty in the name of comedy, and she does so again to varying results. It’s not the clever role her talents have been crying out for, but she’s good enough at what she does to pull of some dumb comedy and still draw some laughs out of you. Likewise, Chris Evans is believable and occasionally quite funny as Colin, and as mentioned the pair make a great match on screen.
There have been far, far worse rom-coms in the last month, let alone this year, so the fact that ‘What’s Your Number?’ offers anything even slightly original is to be commended. A clever, ‘Legally Blonde’ type role is required for Faris to truly break out of the ‘disposable comedy’ niche she has created, but thanks largely to her this is a rare occasion that familiarity doesn’t breed contempt.
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