Presumably, your college experience was a little more intensive than the one facing the girls in "The House Bunny." Maybe you had a job. Or some kind of internship. Or actually went to a single class. With no real-world problems to worry about, the sorority sisters of Zeta Alpha Zeta struggle with the oldest of movie conflicts: Nobody thinks they're cool. At least until a former Playboy Bunny shows up to teach them that big hair and the right amount of cleavage can solve any problem.It's practically a scene-by-scene rip-off of "Revenge of the Nerds" and "Legally Blonde," which is only half OK, because the screenwriters of "The House Bunny" also wrote the latter movie. But the movie benefits from the multiple talents of Anna Faris, whose insane hotness makes people forget that she's also a gifted comic actress.
Faris has elevated other movies, most notably as a rock diva in "Just Friends," where she deftly made fun of everything you hate about Ashlee Simpson and Paris Hilton in 20 minutes of screen time. She does something different here, playing the nice but impossibly stupid Shelley Darlingson, who is exiled from the paradise of the Playboy Mansion (Hef contributes his usual great cameo) and has to fend for herself in the real world. She ends up as the house mother at the most unpopular sorority on a Southern California campus.
From there, the plot is beyond predictable. Seriously, write down every scene from "Legally Blonde" and "Revenge of the Nerds" on index cards, shuffle and then deal your movie. There's a montage where the girls fix their house, a sorority/fraternity council subplot where the Zetas have to defend their charter and even a scene in which the cute girls unleash a pig in the house. Throw in a panty raid and a rendition of "Mr. Touchdown," and your copyright infringement lawsuit is complete.
The sorority girls are also a collection of familiar stereotypes, except for the one played by Rumer Willis, whose sole purpose is to make fun of girls in body braces. (The Joan Cusack character was also the one unfunny thing about "Sixteen Candles." Maybe we're lucky that screenwriters try this cheap sight gag only once every 24 years.)
Colin Hanks plays a nice guy love interest for Shelley, which is so unbelievable that it becomes uncomfortable. And the narrative weakly shifts gears at the end, throwing in a predictable what-counts-is-on-the-inside message that contradicts the entire first three-quarters of the movie.
But we're being a bit too hard on this comedy, which does have quite a few laughs. Screenwriters Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith may not have any original ideas, but they write some good lines and have a great actress to deliver them. "I love charity," Shelley exclaims, with a sincere/vacant look from Faris that makes it twice as funny. "One time, at the mansion, I even let Bob Saget grind on me during a slow dance."
Later, when she raises some money for a nursing home, she makes the check payable to "old people." Hopefully, in the sequel, she'll at least attend a few extension courses.
