THE HOUSE BUNNY

"I'm only twenty-seven"

For Shelley Darlingson (Faris), turning twenty-seven meant only one thing. After living in the Playboy mansion since leaving the orphanage at eighteen, Shelley had dreamed of been a centrefold and she was sure that Hugh Hefner would make her Miss November as his gift but instead she is told that she is too old to be a Playboy Bunny and told she has to leave the mansion forever. Homeless and not knowing what to do, Shelley takes a job as a House Mother for the sorority girls from Zeta Alpha Zeta at the local College. What she doesn't know however is that if the girls don't get thirty pledges during the semester then they will loose their charter and thus their home but Shelley might just be the Playboy Bunny to save them.

College Sorority movies have become a stable for comedy from Hollywood but is there ever going to be a film that will surpass 'Animal House' in cult status?

When 'National Lampoon's Animal House' was released in 1978 the standard was set for every other College sorority movie to try and imitate or surpass but very few films have even come close in the decades that followed. Now director Fred Wolf and his creative team have tried to combine the wackiness of that classic College movie with the fashion and girliness of hits like 'Clueless' and then throw in a sprinkling of Playboy for good measure. Unfortunately this heady mix isn't quite filled with the right ingredients.

Stealing the 'worst house on campus' plotline from 'Animal House' but only making real estate the reason why Beverley D'Angelo's Mrs. Hagstrom wants rid of Zeta Alpha Zeta, then mixing it in with a fashion makeover which could be grabbed from any girly flick and then there is the Playboy element to appeal to a male audience. Unfortunately none of these work and just make the film a complete mess and not as funny as it could have been.

The film's only saving grace is the cast, led by one of the best comedic actresses working at the moment in movies, Anna Faris. While she may have made her name in the appalling 'Scary Movie' series, she has gone on to prove her self in films like 'My Super Ex-Girlfriend' and a great cameo in 'Lost in Translation'. It is clear that she is a comedic actress with great promise that stems from her screen presence but she needs to really choose her roles with a little more care. As Shelley, it is easy to believe that she could be a Playboy Bunny, as she has never looked more stunning but it is her dimena that really makes her right for the role. Here support is also much better than the film deserves. 'Superbad' starlet Emma Stone is very good as super geek Natalie, Demi Moore and Bruce Willis' daughter Rumer Willis shows promise as Joanne, Kat Dennings continues to show that she is one of the best young actresses working today as punk Mona and Colin Hanks is suitably cast as the love interest for Faris. There is also a cameo for the man himself, Hugh Hefner, playing himself, of course.

'The House Bunny' is a bit of a mess. With plot points that are stolen from too many films that have used them to greater aplomb before but with a cast that saves this from been a complete disaster, it is clear that this is a missed opportunity to produce a gross out comedy with a female prospective.

Style The Girls Of Zeta
Calendar Girls
Anna Faris: House Mom
The Girls Upstairs
Colin Hanks: Mr. Nice Guy
From Song To Set: Katherine McPhee
From Tour to Bus to Trailer: Tyson Ritter
Look Who Dropped By
Zetas Transformed
Getting Ready For A Party
House Bunny Memories
I Know What Boys Like - Music Video
Introduction to "I Know What Boys Like"
Deleted Scenes

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2008