The House Bunny Synopsis: After Playboy bunny Shelley is kicked out of the playboy mansion, she finds a job as the house mother for a sorority full of socially awkward girls.
Orphaned Shelley finally finds her true calling as a Playboy Bunny, living in the Playboy mansion with Hugh Hefner and the rest of the Playmates. After celebrating her 27th birthday, Shelley is unceremoniously kicked out of the Mansion and eventually finds herself in front of Zeta house, a sorority of misfits who are close to losing their charter if they cannot find 30 new pledges.
Shelley decides to become the Zeta house mom and help the Zeta sisters become more popular and appealing to other students. While attempting to influence the girls, Shelley also meets Oliver, a retirement home manager whom she wants to impress with more than her bra size.
Despite how ridiculous it is, The House Bunny is one of those rare Happy Madison films that I enjoy. But dang it, Anna Faris is such a comedic talent that I generally enjoy most movies she’s in if she’s given the right role and allowed to do what she does best. t
Shelley is not very bright. She’s very naïve and endlessly optimistic. In the hands of another actress, Shelley could have just been a one-dimensional bimbo, but Faris always manages to make even the most dim-witted characters adorable and root-able (is that a word?!).
Before becoming Emma Stone, Emma Stone also shows off her comedic chops as Natalie, the Zeta, who is desperate to give Shelley a chance because she’s desperate enough to try anything to save their charter. The other girls – Kat Dennings, Dana Goodman, Rumer Willis, Katharine McPhee, etc. – get their own moments to shine, but those moments are relatively small blips in the larger scope of the movie.
Take away Anna Faris; the movie isn’t as fun. The House Bunny’s premise is nothing fresh or original, and the script itself is weak. But Faris breathes life into what is essentially just another dumb blonde movie, making it far more enjoyable and watchable. Another point in its favor is that The House Bunny depends on some pretty cutting one-liners rather than shock-value gross-out humor, which I’m used to seeing when watching anything produced by Happy Madison.
Make no mistake: The House Bunny is Anna Faris’s movie. She has some cute chemistry with Colin Hanks, who plays Oliver, and even better chemistry with the other female actresses. It’s easy to look at most of the movie and see it as some feminist nightmare – change everything about yourself to be noticed – but it’s honestly a movie about sisterhood and being whoever you’re comfortable being, whether you’re wearing a water bra or not. Is it a comedic masterpiece? Heck no. But Anna Faris makes it a comedy worth watching.
Watched: 05/14/2022
Notable Song: Girlfriend by Avril Lavigne
