Review: ‘The House Bunny’

Travis:

Hands down, ‘The House Bunny’ is the biggest surprise of the summer so far for me. I really didn’t expect this movie to be very good, even with Adam Sandler producing this comedy. Anna Farris plays Shelley, an aging (27 years old) Playboy bunny who is living her dream as a resident of the Playboy mansion, hoping to be the November centerfold. On the morning following the enormous birthday bash that Hefner threw her, she receives a letter asking for her to move out of the mansion. Devastated, Shelley packs her belongings into her beat-up clunker of a station wagon and moves out into the real world… homeless, jobless and witless.

Desperate to find herself a new “family” Shelley stumbles upon a high-class sorority house where she discovers what a “house mom” is, but is immediately rejected by the stuck-up, ice-cold house mom played by the great Beverly D’Angelo. She’s referred to ZETA house, where she finds the sorority has recently lost their house mom and will soon loose their charter and their house if they cannot produce 30 new pledges in time. Shelley vies for the job of ZETA’s house mom, promising she can turn their bad luck into good fortune, making them popular and sexy. Hence, the film’s title takes hold. Shelley is an odd duck, endearing but ditsy and awkwardly philtrophy… I mean, philosophical.

‘The House Bunny’ is a hilarious comedy from director Fred Wolf (Strange Wilderness) with a little bit of moral story thrown in at the end, but be aware this is a movie intended to produce uncontrollable laughter and it succeeds. I nearly hurt myself laughing during a few of the scenes. The comedy is a combination of old school jokes with a fresh twist and some absurdly comical new gags that carry lots of weight in this college comedy for the “geek” crowd. One of the funniest running bits in the film is Shelley’s strange and unique method for remembering the names of the people she meets. It’s really not easily described in writing, but think cute blonde suddenly possessed by Satan while repeating a person’s name. The scene in which this gag is introduced is painfully funny, but it actually manages to maintain most of its value as its used throughout the movie.

The ZETA house is populated with seven various unpopular girls, ranging from the anti-social goth girl (Kat Dennings) to the book-smart nerd girl (Emma Stone) and just about everything in between. Most of the humor in the movie is self-deprecating to the character of Shelley, but it’s the way the humor interplays with what’s going on all around her that makes it so successful. This is not a movie that’s simply filled with lame gags and jokes strung together, having no true purpose to the plot, exemplifying the proven attributes of why Adam Sandler’s movies have been so successful.

(3.5 bunny ears out of 5)

Ram Man:

As I’m leaving “the Huddle” (Ram Man’s crib) to check out Happy Madison’s latest comedy “House Bunny” I receive the latest issue of Playboy. Like a sign from above (Thanks Hef!) , It has Anna Faris on the cover! Come to find out (after reading 20Q w/ Faris) Anna is not only starring in the film but actually came up with the idea for the script. She had some writing help from Legally Blonde’s Kirstin Smith and Karen McCullah Lutz then teamed with Adam Sandler and Alan Covert to bring Shelly Darlingson, “the House Bunny” to the big screen.

Shelly (Faris) raised in orphanages, grew up with dreams of popularity and someday a family of her own. After high-school, once her body filled out, she posed for Playboy and Hef made her dreams come true. Shelly lived in the Mansion with her “sister” bunnies. Her days filled with shopping trips, lavish parties and meeting loads of celebrities (Cameos by Shaq, Matt Leinart of the Arizona Cardinals and Sean Salisbury of ESPN). Shelly was about to turn 27 and in the running to become Mrs. November. The morning following her big birthday blow-out Shelly discovers a note with her breakfast telling her to pack her things and get out. (the note actually planted by her rival for the magazine’s November spread). Shelly is now the homeless bunny forced to live out of her junked out station wagon.

After spending the night with some hookers and the LAPD (she misunderstood breathalyzer for blow-job when being ticketed by officer Dan Patrick), Shelly was in search of a new place to call home. She stumbled on to sorority row at the local college, and to a ditzie blonde, it was like “a bunch of little Playboy Mansions”. Shelly make her way to the Zeta Alpha Zeta house, the social misfits of the college. These girls: Natalie: the nerd (Emma Stone), Mona: the angry Goth chick (Kat Dennings), Harmony: the easy pregnant girl (Idol’s Katherine McPhee)and Joanne:who could double for Oz’s tin man (Rumor Willis) are about to loose their charter and become homeless themselves. The Zeta’s are in need of a make-over. They have no pledges, parties or fundraising of any kind and only a few weeks to correct the problem. The girls are desperate and hire Shelly to be their house mother. Shelly in return decides to give the Zetas a make-over..a complete make-over (clothes, bras, hair, make-up and personality). After a successful fundraising drive featuring the new and improved Zetas in a racy calender and a couple of wild parties their rival Phi Iota Mu, the pretty snobs on campus, take notice and begin to sabatoge the efforts of the Zetas to save their house. The Mu’s and their wicked house mother Mrs. Hagstrom (Beverly D’Angelo) are secretly behind the plans to take over the Zeta house to alleviate the overcrowding in their own.

The Zeta girls aren’t the only ones in need. Shelly realizes after meeting Oliver (Colin Hanks), a guy who manages the elderly center near campus, that not all guys will fall for her idiotic flirty tricks. Some guys like a woman who thinks. So Natalie and the girls give Shelly an intellectual make-over to impress Oliver. The end of the film is some what predictable but getting to it is the fun part. Faris and her exorcist memorization technique had the crowd rolling. The film, in addition to numerous cameos by Playboys finest and the guys from Happy Madison (Allen Covert, Johnathan Loughran, Nick Swarsdon), features the acting debut of Tyson Ritter lead singer of the All-American Rejects as Colby..Natalie’s love crush in the film.

I expected and rauchy sex comedy featuring a ditsy blonde and absolutely no story. I was pleasantly suprised by one of the best teen comedies of the summer. Anna Faris’ role as Shelly the “House Bunny” was created by and most important for her. You forget early in the film that she is acting and begin to believe she is that crazy! Go check out “House Bunny” a worthy end to the summer movie season.

(3.5 out of 5 centerfolds)

Michelle:

‘The House Bunny’ is such a pleasant late August surprise. With all its ‘Legally Blonde’ mojo going on, Anna Faris’s take as Shelley, one-time Playboy bunny, now sorority house mother, is certainly her star making vehicle. Faris has the all the comic timing to be the next big funny lady. She and Emma Stone, (Natalie), are perfectly teamed – together they give the script that extra special pizzazz. This female cast has alot of enthusiasm with their portrayals of sorority sisters about to lose their house. Nepotism was very evident with the additions of Colin Hanks (son of Tom Hanks) and Rumer Willis (daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore). You know these two would never get acting gigs if it weren’t for their famous parents. Katherine McPhee’s big screen debut as the pregnant sorority sis just goes to show that American Idol once again voted for the wrong winner, Taylor Hicks. Poor Beverly D’Angelo had the constant “what am I doing here” look on her face.

With a rousing, lively soundtrack, ‘House Bunny’ hippity hops its way into one of the most unexpected comedies of the year.

(3.5 stars out of 5)

[rating: 3.5/5]