Anna Faris (The House Bunny, Scary Movie) is often praised for her go-for-broke comedic gifts. If only, wistful critics write, she could find a worthy movie free of romantic-comedy clichés to rocket her to stardom. An April feature in The New Yorker used Faris' career to explore the dearth of truly funny roles for women in Hollywood, and suggested that her next effort, What's Your Number?, would be that movie. Now it's in theaters and — depressingly — many are saying the film wastes Faris' talents yet again. Does it?
Yep. This is a total waste: Faris "delivers a joyously unashamed performance in a flailing, sputtering rom-com that gives her and the rest of a supremely overqualified cast ample cause for embarrassment," says Nathan Rabin at The Onion's A.V. Club. It's a shame. She's a talented, "perpetually underserved" actress. Surely "there's a smart, funny, observant comedy-drama to be made about the role our romantic pasts play in determining our futures," but this "gimmicky" movie isn't it.
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