In this edgy comedy, Ally Darling, is an offbeat young woman who decides, after hitting the un-magical number of 20 lovers, to re-visit all her ex-boyfriends in the hopes of finding the man of her dreams. She’s assisted in her quest by her womanizing neighbour Colin.
Director Mark Mylod has a wealth of work on various TV episodes behind him including series such as ‘Entourage’, ‘United States of Tara’, and ‘Shameless’. He switches to film in the romantic comedy ‘What’s Your Number?’ with the unlikely lead pairing of Anna Faris and Chris Evans.
‘What’s Your Number?’ opens with a vibrant feel and some interesting camera work, before quickly devolving into a mostly familiar formula that isn’t without some enjoyable moments. The opening act here comes with a few quirky characteristics that begin to separate this film from many entries into the genre, however this aspect of the filmmaking tends to fall away quickly.
While the story is conventional, overall the film makes use of the good looks of the two leads, leaning towards a more risqué film than many romantic comedies. In summary, Evans happily shows off his ripped body, and Faris reveals plenty of skin.
Anna Faris delivers the role with her usual enthusiasm, it’s surprising upon looking over her filmography that her film career in the ‘Scary Movie’ franchise began over a decade ago in 2000, and she is obviously quite well versed in her comedic performances and captures the awkward moments well. Chris Evans just comes across entirely natural on screen and carries a quiet charisma here that is undeniable.
With a strong leading couple where the film does fall down somewhat is with the script, Faris and Evans make the most of the material they are working with and deliver some genuinely funny scenes, however they are spaced a little too far apart. The supporting cast is a little lacklustre in terms of the material they have to work with, though there are some notable cameo’s including Zachary Quinto, and Aziz Ansari.
Overall the talents involved in ‘What’s Your Number?’ are all deserving of better material that what is given here, and there is nothing that escapes the predictable commonalities of the genre. The audience can easily see from the beginning where things are going to end up, where the inevitable conflict will occur and of course the final union. The best one can hope for is some fun laughs along the way and ‘What’s Your Number?’ only partially succeeds here, with a great cast but some weak writing underpinning it.
Overall the film remains a reasonable option for a light film with a few laughs, and a good cast but without any attributes that help the film stand out on its own, it will ultimately reside lost in the mix of many formulaic entries into the genre.
I’m giving ‘What’s Your Number?’ 2 out of 5 stars, it’s in cinemas around Australia from Thursday 13 October.