The House Bunny

Brains do not need to be engaged for this movie. But it does produce a few wonderful - and hilarious - surprises that make it a very enjoyable 90 minutes.

One is Anna Farris, who does a great twist on the archetypal dizzy blonde beloved of Hollywood since time immemorial.

But the real kickers are the jarring one-liners that pepper an otherwise sweet and predictable film. Several reduced this viewer to paroxysms of laughter, tears rolling down cheeks, beverage spurting across the room.

These moments, when they arrive, are so unexpected that the effect is one of firmly-flicked kipper on unprotected jowl. And none are in the "gross-out" style that one might have expected in a film of this genre.

Very bunny indeed.

Shelley (Anna Faris) was abandoned as a baby on someone's doorstep long ago. As she relates, no one was interested in getting her back although they did request that the basket be returned! Shuttled from one orphanage to another, Shelley eventually found a "family" when her womanish figure came into fruition. That's right, Shelley resided in the Playboy mansion and found happiness with Hef and the other gal pal housemates. However, one day Shelley receives word that Hef has given her two hours to move out of the mansion. A fellow worker at the residence suggests that, perhaps, she is getting too old to be a bunny. After all, didn't she just turn 27? And, isn't that like 59 in "bunny years"? So, off Shelley goes, hurt and scared. After a day on her own, she stumbles onto a nearby college campus and learns that she could possibly find a job, a home, and a salary by becoming a sorority "mother" to a group of misfit sisters. These gals, the Zetas, have seen their numbers shrink, mostly because they are all shy and a bit unconventional (among them, Katharine McPhee and Rumer Willis). The college has already told them that if they don't find new members, the Zeta house will be shut down. It is going to be Shelley's biggest challenge to turn the sorority into an attractive place for the new students. Can she do it? Perhaps, Shelly could ask for the help and advice of a nursing home director, Oliver (Colin Hanks), a nice man she met in a park? After a brief, blase beginning, this film packs a good punch of light comedy and romance. Part of the credit should go to the very nice cast. Faris is wonderful in her role as the dimwitted bunny who has more than enough smarts to learn a few new tricks and Hanks, in a smaller role, is quite nice as the love interest. The Zeta girls themselves, especially Rumer Willis and Emma Stone, are a delightful bunch of offbeat creatures that learn some lessons themselves. The rest of the cast, including Christopher McDonald and Beverly D'Angelo, is good, also. The costumes, naturally, are very fine, as this is a gal-dominated movie and clothes are especially important. But, the sunny sets, cinematography, screenplay, and direction are up to snuff as well. No, it's not Willie Shakespeare but the flick is definitely a good diversion from the everyday blues. It's a likely bet that you will find this "Bunny" to be quite funny indeed.

It's impressive how talented Anna Faris is, she manages to turn a tremendously idiotic movie like this one into something watchable. And this is very clear when she shares the screen with another great actress, who is Emma Stone in a role that is also comedic, and yet she steals the show.

The film itself is a feel good movie, it has some aspects that I thought were really cool, such as the appreciation of friendship and taking away taboo and prejudice with sex, in addition to having some funny moments, always in Anna's hands. On the other hand, the rest is silly beyond measure, even having grotesque and embarrassing moments, like some starring the character Carrie Mae, extremely forced. Not to mention Anna's final speech, which is ridiculously corny and unnecessary.

I rate it 5 out of 10 for Anna's talent and the heart warming spirit.

I went with my mother and my nine-year-old niece to see "The House Bunny" in the early morning in a relatively empty theater where there were only women. Of course it won't be the most memorable movie I've seen, but for late August, it's not all that bad.

Comedienne Anna Faris is perfectly cast as a carefree, big-haired and hare-brained Playboy bunny who after celebrating her 27th birthday (that's 59 in bunny years) at the Playboy Mansion, where she has lived much of her life, gets kicked out of there by yours truly, Hugh Hefner. With nowhere to turn, she looks at a sorority house that seems to resemble her previous house, only not as big. There, she accepts the job of a house mother to seven social misfits who make up the sorority Zeta Alpha Zeta. They need 23 more pledges before they are totally ousted as a campus sorority by the beautiful but snooty Pi Alphu Mu sorority.

Do the clichés sound familiar? Yes, they do. It seems like the creators of this movie grew up on "Revenge of the Nerds," one of my all-time favorite movies and the granddaddy of all jocks vs. nerds and losers who become winner comedies. So they decided to make a "Nerds" comedy a generation later with a feminist perspective. Faris's character, appropriately named Shelly Darlingson, first takes on all the wallflowers and makes them like her with flashy clothes, heavy makeup, costume jewelry, and platform shoes. At first, it is successful and boys fall for them. Soon enough, they see Shelly as frivolous and teach her to have brains as well as beauty. This leads Shelly to a forced, clumsy conversation with the man of her dreams (Colin Hanks, son of Tom Hanks). At the end of the movie, everyone wins except for the Pi Alpha Mu sorority.

There is a fine cast. Anna Faris perks everything up in what could have been a total lamebrainer. Her appearance and high voice get laughs, but when she does a dead-on "Exorcist" voice by saying everyone's names in order to remember them, that is the real deal. Colin Hanks and fellow Hollywood Offspring Rumer Willis, daughter of Demi Moore (and looks a lot like her) and Bruce Willis, provide able support. Katharine McPhee, the American Idol Runner Up of 2006, is made first ugly, then beautiful, as one of the sorority members. Listen for an "Idol" reference in which Faris tells Hanks she listens to Paula and Randy and that Simon is mean. The rest of the cast is amiable as well. We tend to know more about Shelly and the misfit sorority than the snobby girls or the hunky boys. Small parts by Beverly D'Angelo as a snide veteran house mother and Christoper McDonald as the prissy dean are provided nicely as well.

Now I would not put this on a must see list, but it is okay for a lazy day. As they dump out leftover movies for the summer, I would rather see this than a truly terrible one I was made to see with a friend - "Stepbrothers," where Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly did nothing but scream their heads off and I was so exhausted the night before that I fell asleep and could barely stay awake. For "The House Bunny," I was awake the whole time through.

Shelley lives at the playboy mansion, and dreams of being a Playboy centerfold. The day after her birthday, she receives a letter telling her she has to move out. Ending up at the Zeta sorority house, a house in desperate need of pledges and money to stay open, she helps the girls, all outcasts at college to become sexier to get what they need, while they help her with a guy she has a crush on.....

The House Bunny shouldn't work. It's got a mixed message, suggesting that girls need to use their sexiness to get what they need, while at the same time saying being yourself, with some confidence, and you can get the same. So in that sense I don't think it completely works.

However, it is very funny in places. Anna Faris is showing herself to be a very funny actress, and keeps the humour coming through-out. Hers is the best performance here. The actress's who play the girls in the house are all different, but give good performances too, with the possible exception of Emma Stone as Natalie, the girl in charge of the house. It's not that she's a bad actress. I saw her recently in The Rocker and she was very good there. It's just that here, she seems to be trying too hard to portray the 'nerd' side of her character. It's not a bad performance, just a little uneven.

The script has some good one-liners in it, and director Fred Wolf keeps things moving at a brisk pace. It's not the funniest teen comedy I've seen, but it has enough moments to keep you smiling, and for it's running time is an enjoyable movie.