What’s Your Number? Synopsis: Ally Darling is realizing she’s a little lost in life. Her latest romance has just fizzled out, and she’s just been fired from her marketing job. Then she reads an eye-opening magazine article that warns that 96 percent of women who’ve been with 20 or more lovers are unlikely to find a husband. Determined to turn her life around and prove the article wrong, Ally embarks on a mission to find the perfect mate from among her numerous ex-boyfriends.
After getting fired from her job, Ally reads a magazine article about what the number of sex partners says about a woman. She discovers the average number of lovers a woman will ever have is 10, which makes her apprehensive about her own number, which happens to be 19.
After a one-night stand with her ex-boss, Ally is determined to keep her number at 20, seeking out past lovers to give them a second look at a potential future. Since she’s unsure where to start, she recruits her womanizing neighbor, Colin, to help her. He’ll track down the list of men she gives him, and in return, he can use her apartment to hide from his one-night stands until they get the hint and leave.
What’s Your Number? was an adorable movie. I think Anna Faris is hilarious with the right script, and Chris Evans is… well, Chris Evans. Charming, cocky, and beautiful. I thought they also had fun, palpable chemistry that made the process from neighbors to friends to lovers entirely believable. Faris’s scenes with Evans really made the movie for me, although I did enjoy watching Ally seek out her exes and attempt to be the perfect girl for them.
There’s a running gag where she continually runs into an old boyfriend nicknamed “Disgusting Donald,” who is super fit now and engaged to a beautiful woman – of course, it had to be played by Faris’s husband at the time, Chris Pratt. Martin Freeman, Anthony Mackie, and Andy Samberg all appear as various exes of Ally’s, including Dave Annable as the elusive Mr. Perfect and number one on Ally’s list of exes. Of course, Ally has to revisit her past relationships in order to realize that the right guy may be across the hall. Wink, wink.
The humor in What’s Your Number? borders on raunchy, but it never goes over the line into too much. There are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, thanks mainly to Faris’s talent for physically awkward comedy. But small things, like Samberg’s puppet making an appearance during a sex scene and Joel McHale smelling his fingers after… er, adjusting himself… okay, that’s more icky than funny. However, it still managed to elicit a giggle from me.
Maybe What’s Your Number doesn’t boast of originality, but it’s still incredibly fun, and the typical rom-com tropes are executed well. You could probably take this movie and write an article on its theme of independent women and their sexuality, but I don’t think it’s that deep. Ally shouldn’t be ashamed of how many lovers she’s had, no matter what a magazine may say. I liked that Colin never judges her for it, except to perhaps laugh at her choices rather than her number. It’s about accepting the flaws of someone you love… if you want to count one’s sex history as a flaw. It all depends on how you look at it, I suppose.
I would recommend What’s Your Number? to anyone who likes a bit of a bite to their rom-coms… or whoever wants to see Chris Evans mostly naked a few times. That works, too!
Watched: 09/08/2021
Notable Song: Three Times a Lady by Lionel Ritchie
Allie
September 14, 2021I have to confess that my only clear memory of this movie is naked Chris Evans. It was a lot of fun though and definitely something I want to see again!
Sara
September 14, 2021Honestly that’s the most memorable part – naked Chris Evans… especially with the fruit and holding a towel over his you know what LOL. But it’s a lot of fun!
Katy
September 18, 2021Nice review! Naked Chris helped a lot, but it’s such a fun movie. I liked their characters and chemistry, and that he never judged her either.
Sonia
September 23, 2021I honestly was expecting it to be terrible but I ended up enjoying it a lot. Anna and Chris have such good chemistry, and the film is so fun.
Sara
September 23, 2021I think Chris and Anna really made the movie as fun as it was.
Brittani
September 24, 2021The only part of this movie I really enjoyed was staring at Chris Evans. I could watch it on mute and be entertained. lol