Richards was cast as the nuclear scientist Christmas Jones in the 1999 James Bond film The World Is Not Enough (1999), which had a high box office gross. Though she considered her role "brainy", "athletic", and having depth of character, she was criticised as not credible in it. Her outfit comprising a tank top and shorts also elicited similar opinions. She was ranked as the worst Bond girl of all time by Entertainment Weekly in 2008. In addition to her film work, Richards made regular appearances in the situation comedies Spin City, Two and a Half Men, Friends and Seinfeld. She also starred in the short-lived UPN series Sex, Love & Secrets in 2005. Throughout the early 2000s, Richards appeared in several film roles which both parodied and utilized her image as a sex symbol, including Valentine, Undercover Brother and Scary Movie 3. In December 2004, she posed for a nude pictorial in Playboy magazine. Richards also posed semi-nude for the July 2006 issue of Jane magazine to raise money for the Clothes Off Our Back Foundation. In 1999 she ranked 9 in Maxim's 50 Sexiest Women and in 2001 she was voted 2nd in FHM's USA 100 Sexiest Women, 5th in FHM 100 Sexiest Women and 19 in AskMen.com 50 Most Beautiful Women. 
