Movie Review: What's Your Number?

I'm still trying to work out what I honestly thought of this one.  I've come to a few conclusions, however, so I'll try to articulate those.

First off, Anna Faris is definitely perfect for this type of role.  She's a frontrunner for the best new awkward and silly but still loveable leading lady, and she runs with any kind of writing she's given.  Her performance in the film is consistent despite an uneven script, which can be impossible to find in a typical "chick flick" such as this.  I'm reminded of Sandra Bullock in this sense; she has the ability to make a kind of stupid movie work, pulling people in to watch her and maybe forget for a little while how awful or trite the actual story is.  So there you go, Hollywood:  got a crappy script and lacking a lead actress?  Give Kate Hudson and Jennifer Aniston a break and call Faris.  I'm pretty sure you won't be disappointed.

But back to the actual film.  If you've seen the trailers for it (and chances are you have, it was heavily promoted in the last few weeks), you know the premise, and the film offers no real surprises or deviations from this.  Faris' character decides after reading a magazine article that the best way to get her life back on track is to get serious about finding a husband.  In order to do this, though, she has to go back and re-examine her past relationships, lest she increase her "number", which is already teetering on the edge of slutty (again, according to the one article she's read).  Along the way she gains Chris Evans' character as her charming partner-in-crime, assisting her in tracking down the exes.  Chaos and hijinks and hilarity ensues, until (oops!) her sidekick falls for her.  Was I surprised by any of this?  No. 

However hackneyed and less than empowering this film is, I do think it had a lot of potential for charm, once upon a time.  It feels like too much has been jammed into one movie, to be honest, and some plot threads might have enriched it had they been fleshed out a little more (I'm thinking especially of Ally's dynamic with her various family members, which are alluded to but never fully explored).  My thought now is that this is something that might have made a fun little sitcom, with Ally looking for a different ex each week and slowly developing her relationship with the real love interest (it's paced as well as it can be in the film, but still feels rushed).  This would allow for the supporting characters to be less flat, and there is definitely enough comedy in the various situations Ally finds herself in to sustain the story in a longer format.  I don't know why I've given this so much thought since it is already a film and also no one cares what I think about it, but I think if you watch the film with this notion in mind you just might see what I mean about the missed opportunities here.

Also, and this is probably something that only bothers me, but the soundtrack for this film is absolutely nonsensical.  There are some great tracks and some great recurring motifs, and then there are a few horrible songs (the Black Eyed Peas make an extended appearance, among others) mixed in that are just plain jarring.  I have to give the movie a wholehearted 'F' on this front.