Nothing new in ‘Number’

September 30, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

Movie

What's Your Number?

Ally Darling, an offbeat young woman, 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 neighbor Colin.

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By Colin Covert

Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Girl, late 20s, checkered romantic background, requires boyfriend/date for sister’s wedding. Been there, done that enough? Then you may as well skip “What’s Your Number?”

It’s not abysmal. I’ve seen slight variations on this movie approximately 4,000 times, and I’ve seen it done worse. There’s just zilch here to get excited about. It does nothing you haven’t seen before.

For fans of conventionality and predictability, here goes: Anna Faris plays Ally, a woman thrown into existential crisis by her younger sister’s nuptials. Ally has racked up an impressive number of paramours, but none of those square pegs fit. A women’s magazine article on marriage statistics declares that if she has one more boyfriend, she will be a certified hosebag. Therefore she must reconnect with all her old boyfriends to see if she missed Mr. Right and land her catch in time to attend sis’ wedding.

Well, yawn. Though her prospects are played by Chris Pratt, Aziz Ansari, Thomas Lennon, Martin Freeman, Zachary Quinto, Andy Samberg and Anthony Mackie, the mirth is restrained. Her bad-boy neighbor agrees to help her with the sleuthing, and since the character is played by Chris Evans, there is a strong possibility that they’ll both be swept away by a destiny they cannot control and end up together. Ya think?

Faris, who is adept at broad physical comedy, overwhelms her role. Kristin Wiig went through many of the same contortions in “Bridesmaids,” and did a better job.

Television director Mark Mylod adds none of the flair needed to redeem the recycled, cliche-riddled script. This film’s ambitions are modest and it still disappoints.