The House Bunny (2008)

Directed by Fred Wolf

Written by Karen McCullah Lutz & Kirsten Smith

Anna Faris ... Shelley Darlingson
Colin Hanks ... Oliver
Emma Stone ... Natalie
Kat Dennings ... Mona
Hugh M. Hefner ... Himself
Christopher McDonald ... Dean Simmons
Beverly D'Angelo ... Mrs. Hagstrom

Rated PG-13
Runtime: 1 hr. 37 mins.


I like to be thought of as one who has good taste. I don't know if I'm thought of that way, but we're talking about what I'd like which has little to do with reality. I try to seek out things that are considered by others to be "the best." I still watch movies I "should" watch, hence my attempt at trying to figure out Bergman for myself. I've always been this way. It's why I started reading movie reviews. It's since broadened into books, food, beer. Basically anything that can be qualified. But I've got to be honest with you. Every once in a while, I love a good PBR from the can. It kind of clears the senses, gets you thinking simply about "beer," don't need to worry about "savoring." You just drink it. Happens with movies, too. Usually comedies that make me laugh in spite of myself. Most recently (oh the shame!) it's Paul Blart: Mall Cop. Before this, The House Bunny. I can't speak on Paul Blart yet, but I have seen The House Bunny. I'm sorry, I apologize, but I liked it.

Much of the credit rests with the two leads, Anna Faris and Emma Stone. Ms. Faris plays Shelley, the titular house bunny. (After several seconds of consideration, I will let that sentence stand.) It's a bimbo role which is how Anna Faris plays it, but she imbues Shelley with an innocence that makes her incredibly charming. Every situation is new and fascinating. It also doesn't hurt that Ms. Faris was gifted with incredible comedic timing. What?

Shelley's a resident of the Playboy Mansion until she's kicked out before her dream of posing for Playboy can be fulfilled. If Shelley had posed nude, there may have been more options for her. As it is, she's at a loss as to how to function in the real world. That's when she happens upon sorority house row. Thinking they look like a bunch of mini Playboy Mansions, she feels right at home. Until she tries to join, by, you know, asking the most stereotypically snobby sorority. Told she's too old to be a member, she learns of being a house mother and that the sorority down the road has a vacancy.

You know where we're headed now, right? Shame on you if you don't. It's at this point that the movie begins to click. The leader of the sorority is Natalie (Emma Stone). Stone's performance is the other key to the movie's success. Her Natalie is awkward and shy but doesn't quite know it. The sorority needs 30 pledges before-Dum, dum dum!-and she buys into Shelley's shtick before she really knows what it is. I guess that's what makes both actresses so successful. They fully commit to these characters being out of their respective elements that when they stumble, it's much funnier than perhaps it has any right being.

For instance. Shelley decides a carwash may be a good idea to get some pledges. It certainly brings the boys over which seems to be a part of getting pledges. I think. Anyway, Shelley tries to encourage Natalie to be sexy. Natalie obliges by uorposely pouring water down the front of her pants. Not let's break this down. First off, again, the actress fully commits with a husky voice saying "sexy" things. Secondly, the pouring of the water is done purposely, which is a lot funnier than ye olde accidentally wetting pants and meeting someone creating an embarrassing situation. Three, it's something that if someone didn't know what "sexy" was, they might think pouring water on the front of your pants might be.

OK. I've probably driven everyone away. I don't know what to tell you. This is not a good movie. The male characters...you can't even use the word characters to describe them. They are physical manifestations of plot points. The plot itself is telegraphed before you even start the movie, but I can't say we ever arrived at any of the required points because there isn't really a journey. I'd say we're apparated there. Poof! Here we are! The end is typically cloying. The beginning, awkward. All that said. I'd watch it again in a heartbeat. It's funny. I laughed out loud. That's what I can say.