Anna Faris to star in two new comedies

Scary Movie franchise vet Anna Faris has two new projects in the works, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The first is an untitled Paramount film described in Hollywood Reporter as "a female buddy comedy following two estranged sisters who team up to land a husband." Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, the women who wrote Faris's 2008 vehicle, House Bunny, will be scripting this film as well.

In case you missed it, House Bunny (which Faris also executive produced) is a comedy about a former Playboy bunny who gets evicted from Hef's Mansion and finds new "work" as the house mother of a sorority full of unpopular coeds. There she transforms dorky smart girls into hoochie girls like her!

Watch the House Bunny trailer here (and note the presence of the always awesome Beverly D'Angelo and former American Idol contestant Katherine McPhee).

The second project, acquired by Columbia, is the romantic comedy 20 Times a Lady. Based on the book by Karyn Bosnak, Hollywood Reporter describes it as centering on "a woman who goes on a trek through her sexual past in an effort to find Mr. Right, exploring the idea of a person's sexual quota and whether those numbers matter." The script is written by Jennifer Crittenden and Gabrielle Allan, and Faris will star in the film.

I'm a huge fan of Anna Faris, and find her to be the ultimate scene-stealer and her performances often remind me of Goldie Hawn at her best (Private Benjamin!) In fact, I'm proud to say that Just Friends (starring Ryan Reynolds) is one of my favorite movies, if for no other reason that Faris's thinly-veiled Britney Spears impersonation. (Do an internet search for Faris's song "Forgiveness," which sounds like the malformed sonic love child of Spears and Alanis Morissette.)

However, if you're like me, you're not necessarily bedazzled by films about women learning how to walk in stilettos, husband-hunting, or anguishing over whether or not their sexual antics qualify them as "sluts." Let's just say that I usually can't relate to relentlessly hetero-romantic comedies.

So why am I still happy to hear about all of these films? Take a look at her team. Faris, McCullah Lutz and Smith are women who consistently turn out films with female leads, telling stories written by women. The recent success of House Bunny (it grossed almost $50 million domestically) is proof that Faris can open a comedy, something that, the Hollywood Reporter notes,"is almost exclusively the domain of men."

So I'll see anything Faris does, simply because she always makes me laugh. And I'll see it on opening weekend because it sends a message to studios that talented women like Faris can make them some serious money. And if she ever stars in a movie about a woman that kicks ass, takes names, isn't in hot pursuit of a man, and also keeps her clothes on? Well, I'll happily go see that one too.

Surely I can't be her only lesbian devotee. What's your favorite Faris moment?