What's Your Number?

When I first saw 'What's Your Number?' in theaters, I recall thinking that it was decent, but far from great. Much like 'The Change-Up,' it featured a funny and talented cast, but was written, directed, and edited by people who simply didn't have enough faith in the actors to let them do what they do best – be funny. What had potential to be non-stop hilarity turned out mildly amusing. Viewing the movie a second time, I watched the "ex-tended" edition. Featuring 11 more minutes of mediocrity, this slight extension made the movie drag and feel twice as long as it really is - almost killing everything good I had to say after the first go-around.

Anna Faris plays Ally, an attractive but neurotic young woman whose reads an article in a gossipy woman's magazine about tallying your sexual partners. When she puts together her final count, 19, she realizes that she's only one partner away from being unmarriable. According to the magazine, anyone with more than 20 lovers is destined to remain hopelessly single. Vowing to make the next man she sleeps with her future husband, Ally and her friends get blackout drunk at a club, where she ends up blowing her new goal by taking her former boss (Joel McHale) home and sleeping with him – only he's not at all what she considers "marriage material," so she makes a vow of celibacy.

Not knowing what she wants in life, Ally once again changes her perspective on the situation and employs the stalker-ish help of her neighbor Colin (Chris Evans) to track down all over her former partners. In her mind, ending up with one of them won't raise her number, so it's the only option she's got. Also, since people change over time, one of these failed relationships might actually work out this time around.

Of course, spending so much time together, Ally and Colin become flirtatious. It's obvious that he finds her quirks and standard Anna Faris wackiness attractive, but she's so set on not passing 20 that she refuses to give him the romantic time of day – even when Colin swears to leave behind his philandering ways. Conundrum!

Both Faris and Evans have the ability to be funny and charming, yet the filmmakers don't trust in their skills, writing in random, out-of-place lines of obscene vulgarity. This is one of those lame R-rated comedies that mistakes foul language for comedy, relying on it almost entirely. In reality, since we never see Ally and her 20 "in the moment" (with the exception of a tame scene with Ally, Andy Samberg, and his puppet), the concept of 'What's Your Number?' is PG-13 – yet the filmmakers resort to occasional bursts of R-rated dialog in an attempt to make you laugh. The result – it's unfunny.

'What's Your Number?' is one of those movie that makes you utterly embarrassed for the actors who appear in them. It's not only embarrassing because of how bad it is, but because you know what real potential they hold.

I wouldn't recommend checking out 'What's Your Number?' unless you're dying to watch a movie and you've seen absolutely everything else in the Redbox. It's nothing more than a made-for-TV chick flick with a bunch of potty-mouthed moments. If you do feel the urge to check it out, then for your own good avoid watching the extended cut – it makes an already long movie feel much, much longer than it needs to be.

The Blu-ray: Vital Disc Stats

20th Century Fox has placed 'What's Your Number?' on a Region A BD-50 in an eco-friendly two-disc blue keepcase. The second disc that comes with the Blu-ray is a DVD copy of the film. A code is also included to unlock a Digital Copy of the movie - not one of those Ultraviolet throw-away copies. A firmware disclaimer, a Fox vanity reel, an FBI warning and trailers for 'The Big Year,' 'The Sitter' and 'In Time' play before prompting you to choose the extended or theatrical cut. The theatrical cut runs 106 minutes and the extended cut runs for 117.

'What's Your Number?' arrives on Blu-ray with a crisp and colorful 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 encode presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio.

When it comes to detail and sharpness, 'What's Your Number?' isn't lacking a thing. When Ally tip-toes around her sleeping booty-call in the opening scene, you'll see individual specks of floating dust pass through bright beams of morning sunlight. You'll even notice the tiny blonde hairs on Faris' arm and shoulders. Detail isn't an issue.

From the opening vanity reel with 20th Century Fox's logo in front of the Hollywood hills, colors prove to be deep and mesmerizing. The color palette is vibrant, wide and full of life, always popping on the screen. Contrast is constant, but the heaviness of the blacks varies frequently. At times, black levels are deep and noteworthy, other times not so much. Sometimes, this ranges from shot-to-shot within the same scene. When Ally first talks to Colin in the stairwell, the richness of her black tank top varies depending on the camera shot. In one shot it will be so deep that you can't see any texture, but another camera angle will reveal its unique pattern. The black level issue is slight, but it's constant.

The only compression issues to be found are small amounts of aliasing and noise. Clothing patterns seem to result in aliasing the most, and noise shows up from time to time - typically during night shots - but it isn't a nuisance and it doesn't pop up often. Banding and artifacts are never an issue, and Fox doesn't waste our time with any edge enhancement or DNR.

Fox has given 'What's Your Number?' a nice little English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track that's almost too good for what it is. Let me explain.

It's the duty of the audio department to make the sound flawless, natural, and full. Whenever a problem occurs, they need to fix it. Sometimes, that results in automated dialogue replacement (ADR). The vocal track of this Blu-ray is so crisp, clear, and centered that it painfully sticks out how bad the final ADR work turned out.

Aside from hardly using the rear speakers, the mix is very well crafted. The expected rom-com pop music is wide and full. The Boston city street effects of traffic-bound cars and bustling people are dynamic. Imaging is seamless and smooth. Fireworks pops, crack and explode throughout all the channels, making it sound like you're standing below the light spectacle. Bass is strong and deep, especially during the clubbing scenes with thumping pop music and the spunky soundtrack.

Details are put into making specific settings sound exactly like they should. During a wedding sequence that takes place outdoors, whenever someone speaks into the mic, it sounds exactly as if it's coming from a cheap P.A. system. Small things like this wouldn't seem to make much of a difference, but it's the small things that make it more realistic.

• Deleted Scenes (HD, 17 min.) - As if the 11 additional minutes of footage in the extended edition weren't bad enough, here are 17 more to accompany it. Five of the eight scenes are alternate versions of scenes already in the movie, two are truly "deleted" and one is simply an outtake of Ally and an overweight ex dancing in fat suits for a few minutes.


• Gag Reel (HD, 7 min.) - Although full of the usual unfunny fanfare – botched takes, gags and F-word inspiring flubs – there's one thing this gag reel does that's actually funny; they get their cast and crew in front of the camera and ask them what their number of partners is. The responses are fantastic.


• Theatrical Trailer (HD, 2 min.) - Did you forget what movie you just watched? If so, remind yourself with this trailer that actually makes the movie look promising. Too bad the movie isn't as funny as it's made out to be.


• Sneak Peek (HD) – Want to rewatch the trailers that ran before the disc's main menu? Then this feature is for you. It offers one additional trailer that wasn't forced before the movie - the preview for the bland failure 'I Don't Know How She Does It.'

Both Anna Faris and Chris Evans have great comedic timing, they're charismatic and extremely fun to watch, but the not-so-bright minds behind 'What's Your Number?' failed to let them shine. Some moments of the raunchy R-rated comedy work just fine, but most don't work at all. The movie moves slowly, which only gets worse with the extended cut. The picture quality is great but it features minor inconsistent problems. The audio is also strong, but reveals the weaknesses of the audio mix. There's also an overall lack of rear audio activity. The set of included special features is weak (a gag reel and slew of unimportant deleted scenes), but it's what you'd expect from a cheap romantic comedy. A rental at best.