Here’s a chance to go Overboard with Faris
Thank goodness for Anna Faris.
The actor, author and podcaster returned to theatres May 4 with a gender-swapped remake of Overboard, about a woman who convinces a rich amnesiac that he’s her husband.
Faris is one of our favourite comedic actors, and it’s great to see her back on the big screen. In honour of Overboard’s debut, we rounded up our favourite Faris movies and TV shows, from her Scary Movie debut to her stalwart sitcom, Mom. • If you also love Allison Janney: Mom
CBS’s sitcom about a mother and daughter trying to live out their daily lives as recovering alcoholics is entirely underrated. Once you get over the studio audience laughter (which is as loud and grating as the kind on The Big Bang Theory, with whom Mom shares power producer Chuck Lorre), you’ll see that the series is sweet, outrageously funny and occasionally heartbreaking. It takes a few seasons to figure out exactly what it is, but the chemistry and comedic timing between Faris and Janney is pitch-perfect from the first episode.
Stream Seasons 1-4 on Hulu. Stream Season 5 on CBS All Access. • If you want a perfect movie for girls night: The House Bunny
When you re-watch this delectable comedy from 2008, you start to wonder why Faris isn’t a bigger movie star right now. The film, which also stars young Kat Dennings and Emma Stone, follows a Playboy bunny who aged out of the mansion (at the ripe old age of 27) and who takes a job as the house mother for an outsider sorority. The movie is surprisingly nuanced for its subject matter, and Faris gets a starring performance that she deserves.
Rent or buy it on Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu or YouTube. • If you want to see Faris’s best comedic performance: Just Friends
Just Friends is a halfway decent rom-com starring Ryan Reynolds and Amy Smart about a music producer who returns home and tries to win over his high school crush. But the real reason to watch it is for Faris’s supporting performance. Playing a parody of every female popstar from the early 2000s (Britney Spears meets Christina Aguilera meets a TMZ headline), Faris is outrageous and hilarious and far superior to everything else in the movie.
Rent or buy it on Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu or YouTube. • When you want to be “scared:” Scary Movie
We’re not sure what’s scarier: Faris’s dark hair (which makes her nearly unrecognizable in the 2000 film) or the fact that Scary Movie is old enough to vote. The actress got her big break in the parody franchise, although it might take you a second to recognize her. The films emphasize Faris’s hammy presence and physical comedy, and though they go off the rails around the fourth instalment, the first is still a classic.
Stream it on Netflix. • If you enjoy a small dose of Monica and Chandler: Friends, Season 10
Faris is in a scant few episodes at the end of Friends’ run as Erica, the biological mother of Monica and Chandler’s adoptive twins. It’s a pretty classic role for Faris, who often plays sweet and ditzy characters, and shows the kind of impact she can have as an actress, even jumping into one of the most successful sitcoms of all time in the final episodes.
Stream it on Netflix.