Ally has just split up from yet another guy and has also lost her job. Deciding that she will not initiate any new relationships, she embarks on a quest to find her best “ex”—the one who might have gotten away.

Chris Evans plays Ally’s sexy, charming neighbor Colin, whom she enlists to help her find the men in her past. The mission will take detective work and determination.

It becomes clear that Ally and Colin get along well and he is clearly handsome and charming, but Ally does not consider her next-door neighbor to be suitable to settle down with. The incorrigible ladies man is the last person she would choose to get involved with, let alone marry.

The combined talents of the brilliantly funny Faris (who has been compared to comic legends such as Lucille Ball and Goldie Hawn) and the formidably talented Evans result in an hilarious comedy that takes some serious turns, too.

Mark Mylod directed the film, which was written by Gabrielle Allan and Jennifer Crittenden. Faris is the executive producer.

What’s Your Number? is now in theaters from 20th Century Fox with distribution by Warner Bros.

 

What attracted you to What’s Your Number?

I love romantic comedies that really crack you up. I like the fact that it is an all-out comedy. A lot of the movies I’ve made lately have been nonstop action with perhaps a slice of comedy. They have required me to be funny, even when they’ve been action movies. It’s not always fun being the funny element in an otherwise dramatic project. This film was a refreshing change for me. I had not made a full-on comedy before in which everyone comes into work every day and makes jokes. You share the load; everyone’s happy and it’s like summer camp.  The movie was such fun to make and there was a great atmosphere on the set. You couldn’t help but go home smiling at the end of the day and take some of that energy with you. Comedies are light and fun and shooting a comedy is a great way to spend your day.

The movie is a different kind of comedy, isn’t it, offering the opportunity to talk about sex honestly?

Absolutely, and that’s the best thing it. It takes risks and pioneers new territory. It’s a cleverly “sexually forward” film. Most romantic comedies tend to play it a little safe and this one doesn’t. That keeps it pure.

 

What do you think the film has to say about sex?

I think the film is willing to tackle areas that traditional romantic comedies have not explored before. That’s what I love about great movies; they are always going to take chances and risks, and that’s what this film does. I think a good comedy has to be true to life, just like a good drama. The more you can emulate life the better it’s going to be, and this movie really does a good job of taking the funniest parts of adult life and mirroring those back to the audience.  It’s so well written too—a little “slapsticky,” maybe even a little “sitcomy,” but it just works. I also think that many people will really relate to this story.

 

How do you find humanity and warmth in a character like Colin who is a bit of a rogue and a ladies man?

That’s what’s great about him. Even though he starts out as a womanizer, at the end of the day I think he’s a good man who has a good heart. He’s at a stage in his life where he’s not looking for commitment, but Anna’s character brings it out from him. I think everybody’s looking for a soul mate, for love and a lifelong companion. I don’t care what they say, that’s what people want. Colin’s a little selfish but he’s still a decent guy. Throughout the movie you see his journey from one stage of life to the next, and that’s a really exciting path for anybody to take.

 

Ally is worried that she has had too many sexual partners so she does some detective work to find her exes and hopefully discover Mr. Right. Why do you think her situation and story provide a good basis for a comedy?

Ally’s search makes for great comedy.  Any time you want to dig up dirt on the people you used to date, there will inevitably be awkward situations which will be funny, inadvertently or otherwise. There is so much comedy that can come out of that scenario. I think a lot of people have regrets. We would all love to rewind and go back to find someone or do something different. It could be something you wish you had never done; perhaps there is a guy or girl you wish you had never encountered, or a guy or girl you wish you could have back. Often that obsession with “what was” prevents you from looking to the future or even to be focused on the present. I think a lot of people can relate to that theme in the film. The message in this movie is that it’s OK to make mistakes and have blemishes on your record because that’s not what really matters.

 

Do you prefer being a single man or do you want to settle down yourself?

Oh, yes, I want to settle down eventually. These days everyone is liberated. You can do whatever you want to and to some degree that idea is socially acceptable. My philosophy in life is rooted in having no judgments one way or another about how other people choose to live their lives.  Be a good person.  Don’t hurt anybody. Whatever you want to do is fine, whether you want to go out and have sex with a thousand women, or whether you want to marry at 18 and pop out nine babies; just be a good person.

 

What has it been like to work with Faris?

She’s just great. When I signed on to do this film I was ecstatic, because I cannot think of another actress who is funnier than Anna is. She’s hilarious both on and off camera. She’s also very smart, a really clever girl. Anna is always one step ahead and she really does her homework when it comes to acting. It’s not as though she’s just silly and “wings it.” She looks for the truth in the character.

 

What do you think men can learn from watching women talk about sex and relationships, which they tend to do so frankly and without inhibition?

I think men and women really aren’t too dissimilar at the end of the day, at least the women that I know. When you get them alone and talk with them, you suddenly think, “Man, you guys talk about the same stuff we do. This is kind of crazy.” Sex and the City has already blazed that trail and I think women are right there with men when it comes to having a few beers and talking about sex. Any guy who thinks that doesn’t happen needs to wake up because it sure does. In fact, sometimes women are worse! They get together and when I hear them, I think to myself, “These girls are out of their minds!”  Guys will make sexual comments in broad strokes, but they don’t go into detail. Girls will give the same commentary, but they go into extraordinary detail.  They really break it down and you think, “Man, these girls leave no stone unturned.”

 

Is it more challenging to do comedy than drama?

No matter what you’re doing, whether it’s comedy or drama, you still have to find the truth in the character. Sometimes comedy can be a bit trickier. With drama, you just say, “Look, I’m going to tell the absolute truth and let the camera do the rest.” With comedy it’s a little different. You watch someone like Jim Carrey and you think when you see him perform “alright, this would never really happen in reality” but he’s so good at putting on a show that it really works on film. It’s almost a heightened reality. In comedy, if you can find that rhythm and go with it, you can be great. I guess I’m not saying that one is easier than the other; I just think that drama at least lives in a world of fact. In comedy, sometimes you have to bend the rules a little bit.

 

Do you think women are funny in general? Some people claim they are not as funny as men.

I know many women who are hilarious; a woman like Anna Faris exists. Sometimes women are funny unintentionally, too. But it’s just an absurd statement to make that women aren’t funny, of course they are.”

 

Would you say that men have a voice that is heard clearly and expressed these days?

We still have our voice. I mean, come on, the male view was expressed in the TV show Married with Children 20 years ago. I think it’s always been a guy’s world as far as voicing the way we think and talk. The movie The Hangover, while very funny, was nothing new. Obviously it pushed the limits of what’s acceptable, but that kind of male-heavy film is not really breaking any new ground. I think the Sex and the City-type of material is relatively new, in which women are the empowered characters and it’s told from a woman’s point of view—in terms of sexuality and things we that had not really heard women talk about before. Us guys have had plenty of opportunity to have our voices heard.

 

What’s your number? (If you want to share that information!)

I’m not telling you my number! What’s too high and what’s too low? It depends on your age. If you’re 18 and you’ve had sex with 30 people, that might be a bit high, but if you’re 40 and you’ve had sex with 30 people maybe that’s okay? I don’t know. Stay out of triple digits I guess.  If you’re out of triple digits, you’re in the clear. It really depends on what you’re looking for. Maybe it’s not wrong to have sex with 200 women, who knows? By the way, that is not even close to my number.  But I don’t judge; it doesn’t matter to me at all.  If a woman I was going to date said she had had slept with 40 guys, that is none of my business, it really isn’t. I think that this movie is trying to express the idea that the preoccupation with people’s numbers is the very thing we need to start letting go of, because it’s an unnecessary judgment.

 

Is there a broader message that you deliver in the film about sex and romance?

I think it says that whenever you do want to stop that part of your life (having different partners) and move on to try to find the person you’re meant to be with, you can do just that. The number of people you’ve slept with in your past should have no bearing on whether you’re able to find that one special person. I think there’s an idea people have that if you’ve had sex with too many people, you’re somehow soured and that number will eventually ruin you for true love. That shouldn’t be the case and that’s the message we’re trying to send in our movie: that whenever you’re ready to take the next step, whether you’ve had sex with two or 20, or 200, it shouldn’t matter. n