The House Bunny (2008)

March 09, 2010

HBO On Demand, Seattle, WA

* / ****

By Scott Muoio

Fred Wolf’s The House Bunny takes me back to that vapid, mid-90s Adam Sandler flick Billy Madison. You remember the one, where Sandler plays a 30 year-old son-of-a-millionaire slacker whose father makes him go through the gauntlet of K through 12^th grade education as an excuse for him to unleash as many bodily function jokes as possible. I remember Billy Madison as ridiculously stupid and yet, people seemed to like it, catapulting the man who relished in pretending to pee his pants and crushing small children with dodge balls to gargantuan cinematic heights.

The House Bunny is the female equivalent of Billy Madison, a mindless vehicle intended to propel its star, Anna Faris into a cinematic comedy cash cow. It may one day do just that for similar reasons (a likeable actor with a brain, funny expressions, and a total lack of inhibition), but in the meantime it makes for a horribly boring, repetitive and seemingly never ending viewing experience.

The plot of The House Bunny involves a hoax eviction of Faris’ Shelly from the Playboy mansion for being “too old.” Apparently, once a Playboy bunny reaches twenty-seven, Hugh Hefner (here playing himself, and badly I might add) leaves her a note shooing her from his mansion. The thing is though, it’s not really Hugh that left the note but rather a vengefully jealous rival bunny and her margarita mixing chubby male sidekick with a nipple fetish. But I digress…

One thing sloowwwwly leads to another and Shelly becomes House Mother for a homely sorority in need of a makeover. Cue the clichés: Shelly helps the girls find their outer beauty, the girls help Shelly find her inner beauty, and of course the women of the beautiful, popular sorority are made to look like the shallow, unattractive twits they are.

Unfortunately, like Billy Madison, The House Bunny is extremely doltish but far less entertaining. It’s not Farris’ fault, as she proves with her effortless charm, impeccable comic timing, and lovingly dimwitted hotness that she has a bright future ahead of her. And it isn’t the rest of the cast’s fault either, as individually the misfits are capable of eliciting a chuckle just as we become desperate for one. The problem lies in the fact that The House Bunny uses every requisite cliché imaginable to pad its run-time while dashing our ha-ha seeking spirits. The result is a terribly predictable and agonizing experience.

But whatever, this is Anna Faris’s show and she doesn’t disappoint. So regardless of how many times the film teases an end only to drag things on, how horribly faded the film’s print appears, and how idiotically obvious the script becomes the bottom line is Faris has talent and I hope to see her again. Only next time I hope it’s in a better movie.

Director: Fred Wolf

Producer: Adam Sandler, Allen Covert, Anna Faris, Jack Giarraputo, Kirsten Smith, Karen McCullah Lutz

Writer: Kirsten Smith, Karen McCullah Lutz

Starring: Anna Fairs, Colin Hanks, Emma Stone, Kat Dennings, Katharine McPhee, Hugh Hefner, Christopher McDonald, Beverly D’Angelo, Tyson Ritter, Rumer Willis

Original Music: Waddy Wachtel (and lots of songs by The Ting Tings)

Cinematographer: Shelly Johnson

Editor: Debra Chiate