page_title: Anna Faris
section_title: 2007–2012: Continued comedic roles
hierarchical_section_title: Anna Faris / Career / 2007–2012: Continued comedic roles
caption_attribution_description: Anna Faris at the Observe and Report world premiere.
context_page_description: Anna Kay Faris is an American actress, producer, podcaster, and author. She rose to prominence for her work in comedic roles, particularly the lead part of Cindy Campbell in the Scary Movie films. Faris has appeared in a number of films, including The Hot Chick, May, Lost in Translation, Brokeback Mountain, Just Friends, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Smiley Face, The House Bunny, What's Your Number?, The Dictator, and Overboard. She has also had voice-over roles in the film franchises Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Alvin and the Chipmunks, as well as The Emoji Movie.
  On television, Faris had a recurring role as Erica, the surrogate mother to Monica Geller and Chandler Bing's twins in the final season of NBC sitcom Friends. Since 2013, she stars as Christy Plunkett on the CBS sitcom Mom. In 2015, Faris launched Unqualified, an advice podcast, and in 2017, her memoir of the same name was published.
context_section_description: In Gregg Araki's independent stoner comedy Smiley Face (2007), Faris starred as Jane F, a young woman who has a series of misadventures after eating a large number of cupcakes laced with cannabis. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and received a limited theatrical release in Los Angeles. Reviews were largely positive for Smiley Face and Anna's leading role; according to the film-critics aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, writers agreed that the actress' "bright performance and Gregg Araki's sharp direction" made the film "more than [the] average stoner comedy." Her role earned her the "Stonette of the Year" prize at High Times magazine's Stony Awards.
  She appeared opposite Diane Keaton and Jon Heder in the small-scale comedy Mama's Boy, playing an aspiring singer and the love interest of a self-absorbed 29-year-old (Heder). Distributed for a limited release to certain parts of the United States only, the film premiered on November 30, 2007, to lukewarm critical and commercial responses. She followed this appearance with a starring part in a mainstream feature, Fred Wolf's comedy The House Bunny. She appeared as Shelley, a former Playboy bunny who signs up to be the "house mother" of an unpopular university sorority after finding out she must leave the Playboy Mansion. Although the movie received average reviews, critics' reactions towards Faris' part were unanimously favorable, most of them agreeing, according to website Rotten Tomatoes, that she was "game" in what they called a "middling, formulaic comedy." The film was released on August 22, 2008, in the US, and made US$70 million in its global theatrical run.
  Faris' first movie of 2009 was the British science fiction-comedy Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel, which follows two social outcasts and their cynical friend as they attempt to navigate a time-travel conundrum in the middle of a British pub. Faris played Cassie, a girl from the future who sets the adventure in motion. The Guardian described her appearance as a "bewildered cameo". The picture only received a theatrical release in the UK, and later had several television premiere airings across Europe.
  In the black comedy Observe and Report (2009), Faris co-starred opposite Seth Rogen, portraying a bitchy cosmetic counter employee on whom Rogen has a crush. She was drawn to appear in the movie, as it gave Faris the opportunity to play an "awful character", rather than the usual "roles where you have to win the audience over or win the guy over, and be charming." Controversy arose regarding a scene where Rogen is having sex with Faris' intoxicated character, with various advocacy groups commenting that the part of the film constituted date rape. Budgeted at US$18 million, Observe and Report made US$26 million.
  Faris voiced a weather intern and the love interest of a wannabe-scientist in the animated Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs as well as Jeanette Miller (one of the chipettes) in the live-action hybrid Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, both of which were box office successes. She starred in the computer-animated live-action film Yogi Bear, as a nature documentary filmmaker befriending the titular character. It was released by Warner Bros. on December 17, 2010, receiving largely negative reviews, with many critics unimpressed by the film's screenplay. The Hollywood Reporter, while admitting to find her "very talented" in its verdict, wondered "what on earth" made her agree to play her role. The film, however, made US$201 million worldwide.
  Faris' following film release was the retro comedy Take Me Home Tonight, about a group of friends partying in one summer night during the 1980s. Filmed in 2007, the film received a wide theatrical release four years later, on March 4, 2011, to negative reviews and lackluster box office returns. Faris, however, obtained a Teen Choice Award nomination for Choice Movie Actress – Comedy. She next had the starring part and served as executive producer of What's Your Number?, where she co-appeared alongside Chris Evans. In the movie, she played a woma
caption: Faris at a screening for Observe and Report (2009)
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