The House Bunny (2008)

Director:

Fred Wolf

Writers (WGA):

Karen McCullah Lutz (written by) &
Kirsten Smith (written by)

Release Date:

22 August 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

For the girls of ZETA house college life was no party, until Shelley showed up.

Plot:

When Shelly, a Playboy bunny, is tossed out of the mansion, she has nowhere to go until she falls in with the sorority girls from Zeta Alpha Zeta. The members of the sorority - who also have got to be the seven most socially clueless women on the planet - are about to lose their house. They need a dose of what only the eternally bubbly Shelley can provide... but they will each learn on their own to stop pretending to be what others want them to be and start being themselves.

Plot Keywords:

Sorority | Playboy | Party | Playboy Bunny | Makeover

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Anna Faris	...	Shelley Darlingson
Colin Hanks	...	Oliver
Emma Stone	...	Natalie
Kat Dennings	...	Mona
Hugh M. Hefner	...	Himself (as Hugh Hefner)
Christopher McDonald	...	Dean Simmons
Beverly D'Angelo	...	Mrs. Hagstrom
Katharine McPhee	...	Harmony
Rumer Willis	...	Joanne
Kiely Williams	...	Lilly
Dana Goodman	...	Carrie Mae
Kimberly Makkouk	...	Tanya
Monet Mazur	...	Cassandra
Tyson Ritter	...	Colby
Sarah Wright	...	Ashley

Also Known As:

I Know What Boys Like (USA) (working title)
Untitled Anna Faris Project (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sex-related humor, partial nudity and brief strong language.

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #44141) | Australia:M | Singapore:PG | Canada:G (Quebec) | Ireland:12A | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) | Malaysia:U (cut) | Peru:14 | South Korea:15 | New Zealand:M | Finland:S | Argentina:13 | Brazil:12 | Germany:6

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures

Trivia:

Joanne (Rumer Willis) breaks out of her back brace in an homage to an early scene in Forrest Gump (1994). Oliver (Colin Hanks) is the son of Tom Hanks, who played the adult Forrest.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the opening shot of the movie, Shelley is walking beside the swimming pool of the Playboy Mansion. She walks past two Playmates having a conversation while standing at the edge of the pool, Hiromi Oshima, wearing yellow shorts, and Sara Jean Underwood. Shelley then hugs Playmate Lauren Michelle Hill who is standing next to lounge chairs. When Shelley turns around to yell over to Hugh Hefner and the Girls Next Door, who are sitting at the bar. Hiromi, now wearing white bikini bottoms, and Lauren are standing blowing bubbles behind Hefner and the Girls Next Door. Then Shelley turns around to walk down some stairs next to the pool. Hiromi, with the yellow shorts back on, and Sara Jean are following Shelley several feet behind her while Lauren is standing in the background next to the lounge chairs.

Quotes:

Harmony: [Lilly whispers to her something about Shelley] No, that doesn't make her a hooker, sorry.

Movie Connections:

Spoofs The Seven Year Itch (1955)

Soundtrack:

I'll Run

Agreeable Time Filer for Late August

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.