The House Bunny (B or 3/4 stars)
Shelley (Anna Faris) lives a carefree life in the Playboy Mansion. That is, til a rival kicks her out. Homeless, she winds up at the doorstep of the sorority girls from Zeta Alpha Zeta. These girls aren't the most attractive bunch you'll ever see, so getting new pledges is an uphill battle. Unless they can sign 30 new people, their house will be taken from them (thanks to some scheming from the pretty girls Phi Iota Mu). As their new housemother, Shelley will try her best (using looks, not brains) to save the house for her Zetas. Not only does she aim to turn these ugly ducklings into swans, but by instilling them with doses of individuality, perhaps they can woo some new pledges yet. 'House Bunny', directed by Fred Wolf, starts off really well, but dissipates into a sort of Legally Blonde rip-off.
Shelley always dreamt about becoming Playboy's Miss November. However, one of Hugh Hefner's other busty beauties convinces him to oust her from the mansion; and she's left with nowhere to go. Beauty only takes you so far, & the poor girl has no brains to back it up. By way of a miracle, she stumbles into a local college's Zeta sorority living room. There she finds quite the entourage of clueless misfits: mousy Natalie (Emma Stone), Mona the Goth girl (Kat Dennings), Harmony the pregnant one (Katharine McPhee), Joanne the cripple (Rumer Willis, Demi & Bruce's daughter), among others.
They desperately need help from bimbo Shelley. So what does she do? She gives them glamorous makeovers & organizes a huge party (to attract both men & potential pledges). But the hot girls over at Phi Iota Mu won't have any of it. And neither will the evil Mrs. Hagstrom (an underused Beverly D'Angelo). Can Shelley make something of her life? Will her misfits learn to stop pretending to be what others want them to be? Pleaaaase. Everything works out. Shelley gets the guy (Colin Hanks, Tom's son) she wants. Yadayadayada.
Sorry if I spoiled anything. Though, I can't imagine you'd care much, at all. In all fairness, 'House Bunny' is a fairly decent comedy. I laughed A LOT in the beginning. The movie contains biting one-liners, subtle jokes & humorous physical comedy. But it exhausts a lot of its comedic tools after about an hour. Anna Faris (who's actually VERY funny) must endure pratfall after pratfall & dumb blonde joke after dumb blonde joke. One of my favorites (that actually worked) was her way of remembering people's names by growling them. The big, gooey climax reminded me of Legally Blonde, but only emphasizes how superior THAT film is.
Some of the supporting characters are lots of fun: Emma Stone is a cute dork. Her make-over look is great, yet I also loved her dork look. Kat Dennings' droll humor struck a chord with me. Hugh Hefner's cameo was fun. And the film offers some nice themes: such as sisterhood; that looks aren't the best quality in people; and that good people DO win over the bad ones more often than not. It's pretty dumb, but fairly funny throughout. Despite my issues with the movie, definitely check it out (at least for Anna Faris).
Shelley always dreamt about becoming Playboy's Miss November. However, one of Hugh Hefner's other busty beauties convinces him to oust her from the mansion; and she's left with nowhere to go. Beauty only takes you so far, & the poor girl has no brains to back it up. By way of a miracle, she stumbles into a local college's Zeta sorority living room. There she finds quite the entourage of clueless misfits: mousy Natalie (Emma Stone), Mona the Goth girl (Kat Dennings), Harmony the pregnant one (Katharine McPhee), Joanne the cripple (Rumer Willis, Demi & Bruce's daughter), among others.
They desperately need help from bimbo Shelley. So what does she do? She gives them glamorous makeovers & organizes a huge party (to attract both men & potential pledges). But the hot girls over at Phi Iota Mu won't have any of it. And neither will the evil Mrs. Hagstrom (an underused Beverly D'Angelo). Can Shelley make something of her life? Will her misfits learn to stop pretending to be what others want them to be? Pleaaaase. Everything works out. Shelley gets the guy (Colin Hanks, Tom's son) she wants. Yadayadayada.
Sorry if I spoiled anything. Though, I can't imagine you'd care much, at all. In all fairness, 'House Bunny' is a fairly decent comedy. I laughed A LOT in the beginning. The movie contains biting one-liners, subtle jokes & humorous physical comedy. But it exhausts a lot of its comedic tools after about an hour. Anna Faris (who's actually VERY funny) must endure pratfall after pratfall & dumb blonde joke after dumb blonde joke. One of my favorites (that actually worked) was her way of remembering people's names by growling them. The big, gooey climax reminded me of Legally Blonde, but only emphasizes how superior THAT film is.
Some of the supporting characters are lots of fun: Emma Stone is a cute dork. Her make-over look is great, yet I also loved her dork look. Kat Dennings' droll humor struck a chord with me. Hugh Hefner's cameo was fun. And the film offers some nice themes: such as sisterhood; that looks aren't the best quality in people; and that good people DO win over the bad ones more often than not. It's pretty dumb, but fairly funny throughout. Despite my issues with the movie, definitely check it out (at least for Anna Faris).