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The North Wind

The North Wind

The North Wind

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Amelia Kashian
Amelia Kashian
Features Editor

Being passionate is one of the best parts of being human, and I am glad that writing has helped me recognize that. I have been writing stories since I was a little girl, and over...

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The North Wind is an independent student publication serving the Northern Michigan University community. It is partially funded by the Student Activity Fee. The North Wind digital paper is published daily during the fall and winter semesters except on university holidays and during exam weeks. The North Wind Board of Directors is composed of representatives of the student body, faculty, administration and area media.

RECORDS ON RECORDS — Teichman shows a variety of records on display at the Vinyl Emporium. With 10,000 records being brought in from downstate, there is something for everyone at the record show. Photo courtesy of Jon Teichman
Local record show promotes community connectivity
Megan VoorheesMarch 28, 2024

Online Exclusive: Faris delivers number one comedy

By Ashley Jarvenpaa

Anna Faris returns to the screen playing the doe eyed girl that is just a little too awkward making it just that much funnier. She has been in films such as “Scary Movie” series and “House Bunny.”

What’s your number is a romantic comedy starring Anna Faris, Chris Evans and Ari Graynor. The film is set in Boston, a pleasant change of scenery. From the beginning Ally (Anna Faris) is starting off on the wrong foot. The movie opens with Ally breaking up with her hippy boyfriend and later in the day getting fired from her job. After reading an article in Marie Claire she realized that her number of sexual exploits are about to reach its tipping point.

If losing relationship, unemployment and middle age was not enough. Ally’s nearly perfect younger sister, Daisy (Ari Graynor), is getting ready to tie the knot. Daisy’s march toward a “I do” will serve as “normal” against all Ally’s antics, and there are about to be a lot of them because she decides to look up all her past loves to see if she can find her future soul mate among them.

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The guideline of this misguided article Ally bases her outrageous quest on is a magic number. If you have not found Mr. Right by the time you have slept with 20 guys than your likely hood to find Mr. Right diminishes with each new conquest. After comparing notes with her girlfriends Ally is ashamed to discover that she chalked up the highest number of partners of 19. Unnerved by the articles claim that 96% of all women who slept with 20 or more never marry. Ally enlists her very attractive struggling musician neighbor with the odd gift of “digging up dirt” Colin Shea (Chris Evans) to help track down the men of her past, while she helps him hideout from the girls of his present one night stands. As Colin finds Ally’s ex’s you get to see how instead of showing her true self, Ally molded herself to be what these guys wanted rather than be herself. As the story progresses an attraction forms between Collin and Ally but before anything happens Ally’s number one guy comes home from Africa.

Faris is delightfully flighty when playing Ally Darling, Even though she swears so much that she could make a sailor blush, but she has a demeanor of a child that makes her lovable. Everything she says has a question mark or explanation mark after it, using her baby blue eyes and facial expressions to do the acting. Sadly you see Anna in similar roles in every movie she is in, the vulgar but cute girl next door, who always seems to be a little behind in the conversation. Anna’s awkward comedic value helps make this comedy smile but not necessarily laugh out loud.

The filmmakers have a lot of time on their hands and they do not seem to know what to do with it. There are moments that Ally has a meltdown or two among them, that are blazingly comic, and Blythe Danner is delightful as Ally’s overbearing, never satisfied mother. But much more of the movie is drawn out to fill the time. Though you really do feel like they are checking off a list, working hard to get through all the exes there is not enough back stories to understand where these guys came from or what went wrong. With 20, there is a lot of them, including the latest ex (Zachary Quinto), the once-fat, now-slim ex (Chris Pratt), the Brit (Martin Freeman), the doctor (Thomas Lennon), the former boss (Joel McHale), the magician (Mike Vogel), the puppeteer (Andy Samberg), the gay politician (Anthony Mackie) and the perfect one, the holy grail of rich, handsome and available, played by Dave Annable. Thankfully, we are only required to catch up with a couple of them.

For a cool Sunday afternoon this movie would be an amusing movie to cuddle up to on the couch with a cup of hot cocoa and watch. While this may not be a gut busting comedy but it has its moments that put a smile on your face. It’s sad to say but once you have seen one romantic comedy you seem them all. For girls night in with snacks this movie is for you but to a laugh out loud movie you might want to keep searching. “What’s Your Number” falls flat when trying to bring in the number of laughs.

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