The House Bunny Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES PLOT SUMMARY
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.
| Anna Faris | Shelley |
| Emma Stone | Natalie |
| Kat Dennings | Mona |
| Colin Hanks | Oliver |
| Katharine McPhee | Harmony |
| Beverly D'Angelo | |
| Dana Goodman | Carrie Mae |
| Lauren Hill | Bunny Lauren |
| Kellan Rhude | Fraternity Guy |
| Kiely Williams | Lily |
| Monet Mazur | Cassandra |
| Rumer Willis | Joanne |
| Sarah Wright | Ashley |
| Kathleen Gati | Boutique Manager |
| Rachel Specter | Courtney |
| Fred Wolf |
5.70 out of 10 (5673 votes)
Visitor Reviews
The bunny and the ugly ducklings
posted on 29 Aug 2009Once upon a time, there was a little bunny named Shelley. Shelley was bright eyed and bushy tailed, and lived with all the other bunnies in the bunny house.
One day, Shelley received a letter asking her to leave the bunny house. Shelley was very sad, but was determined to find her own way in the big world. She wandered and wondered, until she came across a big house full of ugly ducklings.
Now Shelley was a blonde bunny, and after thinking really hard for a few seconds, she decided to live with the ducklings and help them grow into foxes. She really, really tried her best, and even though she could not stop all the clichés from taking over the rest of the story, they lived relatively happily ever after.
The end.
Short Attention Span Summary (SASS):
1. Anna Faris plays the part of Shelley, a Playboy bunny evicted from the mansion after her 27th birthday party.
2. Hugh Hefner appears as himself
3. Shelley finds herself at the sad, sad sorority house of Zeta Alpha Zeta, inhabited by the likes of Katharine (Idol runner-up) McPhee, Emma (Superbad) Stone and Rumer (Why in the world did I have to inherit my father's chin?) Willis.
4. They need urgent help, and also to get new pledges to save their house
5. Help = Bunny + Makeovers + New wardrobes + Parties
6. Colin (Why aren't I more like my dad?) Hanks is a bland actor playing a bland role, and needs no further mention here.
7. Shelley has to make a big career decision
This is a comedy in the vein of a dumber "Legally Blonde" that's funny most (but not all of) of the time. Faris is a competent comedic lead actress (though she probably shouldn't venture very far from the comedy tree), and carries the movie, despite the fact that she's no Reese Witherspoon.
If you're in the mood for funny but formulaic, then this one's for you.
Shelley: Yes, I think I'll have the mahi-mahi, but can I get it with just one mahi?
Amanda Richards, February 7, 2009
GREAT Movie!
posted on 29 Aug 2009Anna Faris holds this movie together. It wouldn't be as good without her.
Some of the acting was a little akward. But it was still funny...with major help from Anna Faris and Kat Dennings. It gets to be a little slow closer to the end though. More comedians should aspire to be as great and do as good as Anna Faris does. (But not Chelsea Handler! She's awesome!) It has a very "fluffy" feel to it. But it is a great comedy that everyone should see.
Silly fun
posted on 22 Aug 2009This film isn't that bad...provided you leave your brain, sense of decency and integrity at home. But you might want to take a big scarf to the movies with you, so you can cover your face as you sneak in to this flick! A daft premise, this film has blonde Playboy bunny Shelley (played impeccably by the extremely funny Farris who will probably continue to do these dumb-dumb films - which is no bad thing as she's so fine at it) kicked out of her 'fairy tale' mansion by a bitchy saboteur who wants to take Shelley's place as Ms November. Farris stumbles upon a sorority house on her travels - Zeta Alpha Zeta - a veritable convent of geeks consisting of a bespectacled nerd, a pregnant pagan, a chick in a neck brace, a midget, a painfully shy wallflower, a multiply-pierced sociopath and a socially inept trailer-park she-man. On hearing that their sorority is due to be shut down due to an obvious lack of pledges, Shelley steps in to make the 7 dorks glamorous and cool. And of course she succeeds. The pagan suddenly becomes stunning, 8 months gone; the nerd becomes a cuter, poor man's version of La-Lohan; and neck brace gal (played by Bruce Willis' daughter Rumer)suddenly runs down the street in a skimpy top with her bosoms bouncing about like 2 drunk puppies in a sack. Though the jokes are geriatric the film doesn't skimp on stupid laughs - Carrie May (from Idahoooooo) is disgustingly funny and there is a very funny car-wash scene (wet pants competition, anyone?). Of course it is crass, silly and corny all the way through - were you expecting anything else? The only problem I had with this film was the boring sub plot involving sappy love-interest Oliver. This was an obvious plot device used to push the "smart and pretty is the best combination!" line which gets old pretty fast. In this respect the movie is a bit confused. It's OK to be pretty and slutty, but to a degree. It's OK to be smart and individual - but hey, let's not let standards slip, girls! It's a bizarre mix of vapid and soul-searching, pushing the same 'be yourself, but still look cute to get boys' maxim the Bratz movie of last year flew from the flag pole. That film was considerably more suitable for children though - we have an f-bomb, skimpy clothes, sly S and M and oral sex innuendos in House Bunny, so despite its cutesy-pie childishness at times, I really wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone under 14. If you want to watch something fluffy, plastic, glittery and covered in multi-coloured lip gloss that goes down great with a few gal pals, bottles of chilled rose wine and a few chocolates, this is definitely worth a look. If you desire something 'meaningful', grab 2001:A Space Odyssey and stop moaning!
Faris' talents help to balance the stereotypes
posted on 20 Aug 2009One of the running jokes throughout "The House Bunny" is that several characters call Anna Faris' character Shelley vapid, and she takes it as a compliment. I would venture all the creative minds behind this film would react the same way. "The House Bunny" is shallow, inconceivable and so formulaic that even its bimbo protagonist could apply it correctly to a math problem -- but it knows it, has fun with it and manages to come off cute.Anna Faris plays maybe the most extreme dim-witted main character ever to grace the screen, but she does so with utter conviction. Her performance is unflinching and completely dedicated to the horrible stereotypes and dumb humor that despite not inducing many laughs (minus a few acceptably clever puns), she manages to win our favor because she actually looks as if she means it. Faris has created a full, complete and complex character out of one of the worst Hollywood stereotypes in existence. Major kudos to her.Produced by Adam Sandler's Happy Madison (yes, some of his usual cameos appear in the film), "The House Bunny" is another image obsessed teen/college girls' movie from the writers behind two of the best films of the genre: "Legally Blonde" and "10 Things I Hate About You." Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith clearly know how to write girl-driven comedies in a way that doesn't insult most movie-goers taste. "House Bunny" is about the closest they've dipped to that level however, at least compared to the other two films.The film is about a rejected playmate who, now homeless, gets a job as a house mother at a local sorority that is dying and full of rejected girls. As par for the course, she uses her shallow ways to give the girls and their house a complete makeover from rejects to hotties (despite our bewilderment as to who's footing the bill). Her services include how to flirt with boys in way that terribly degrade themselves and insult the men they're after, using water bras and exploiting their bodies for philanthropic (a word Shelley has trouble with) purposes. The turnaround, however, causes the girls to lose sight of who they were (we were wondering about that too ... ) and come to a conclusion at some point that they can in fact be beautiful and smart -- imagine that.It's like when Olivia Newton-John comes out at the end of "Grease" and embraces the bad girl sex symbol look and we all shake our heads because that's not how it's supposed to be. For much of "The House Bunny," there are some serious messages that girls under 16 do not need to be mixed up with and though it tempers them with the "middle ground" attitude, it doesn't -- like most formula comedies -- do so convincingly in the end.Makes you wonder what an actor like Colin Hanks is doing in the middle of this trashy pop girls-night flick, but in honesty he's a relief with all the fake tanning, Juicy-wearing stench that overwhelms the film. But to be honest, the cast of girls here is rather talented: Kat Dennings ("The 40-Year-Old Virgin"), Bruce and Demi's daughter Rumer Willis, pop vocalist Katherine McPhee and Emma Stone of "Superbad," who shows the most promise of all these young actresses with her convincing performance as Natalie, the house leader who wants the best of both worlds -- she's a lovable nerd and a risk-taker. As horribly processed and packaged as "House Bunny" is, it certainly has the guts and talent to stand by the risqué morals it's built on.
Anna Faris Is Unable To Hate
posted on 18 Aug 2009The House Bunny is nothing but loads of hilarious yet dumb fun. It wasn't mediocre, which a lot of movies like this are, and the comedy, though not all of it was laughable, still wasn't unprofessional or like I said, mediocre. The acting was perfect and the characters are so nicely done. It is so enjoyable watching Shelley gradually change her surroundings, including the people, which she inhabits at the Zeta House. There are great special appearances by Holly, Bridget, and Kendra(The Girls Next Door), Mr. Hugh Hephner himself, but of course, and there's even a character played by Katherine McPhee. This movie is filled with nothing but sheer joy and total entertainment. Of course it's not the best, but overall it is such a great little film. There is bound to be something you'll find likable about The House Bunny, and if there isn't, what a shame. Anna Faris is such a good actress and she makes the character of Shelley so lovable and hilarious, no one could've done it better. Give The House Bunny a chance, it is definitely worth it.
Agreeable Time Filer for Late August
posted on 14 Aug 2009I 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.
A touching and humorous film with plenty of colourful characters and an original story.
posted on 12 Aug 2009I really enjoyed this. The story is highly original and there are numerous interesting characters, each contributing to the film's humour.I found there also to be a surprising measure of emotional depth. Aspects of bonding to one's fellows, overcoming problems to do with low self esteem, and (conversely) the pitfalls associated with having an overblown opinion of oneself, are all included. I also found the occasional songs included were both appealing in themselves and punctuated the drama to good effect.Because of the situations she finds herself in after her expulsion from the bunny mansion, Shelly constantly has to 'make things up' as she goes along. I think Anna Faris acts this 'constantly groping for ideas' aspect brilliantly - making everything appear as if coming to her 'on the spur of the moment'.This is a super film which I hope to see again on the big screen at least one more time before the end of the month. Highly recommended for its humour, its characters, and its heart.
Definitely worth a watch, even if you're not fond of these kinds of movies
posted on 05 Aug 2009I just saw an advance screening of the film and trust me, this film is worth your time. I won passes through my local newspaper and since I like Anna Faris, I decided I'd go anyways. I was VERY satisfied with the film. Anna Faris plays Shelly, a Playboy bunny who is considered "too old" for Playboy and is booted from the mansion. After a brief stint which results in her in jail, she is released and goes to a college beta house, where she teaches 8 unpopular kids how to be popular among the boys. Overall, the humor was great, it was nice seeing her taking on a more challenging role than the Scary Movie movies. There were a few moments that could be tightened up, but overall, it's a cute movie, there's some great laughs and it is worth a look if you like these kinds of movies.
Cliché, but also Very Cute!!
posted on 04 Aug 2009I had mixed feelings about going to see "The House Bunny." On the one hand, the film played out in commercials and trailers in a very tweeny tradition like "She's All That" (or whatever that movie was called) by casting some obvious cool/hot girls in the roles of dorks! On the other, the film featured Anna Faris, who I'd argue has always done her best work in parodies. Here was the opportunity to see her stick it, so to speak, with one of the institutions most deserving of parody: the Playboy institution! Well, I saw the film and I have to say that as vapid and predictable as it is, it is also sweet, sincere and usually quite funny.The rundown on the film works like this: Shelley Darlingson (Faris) is a Playboy bunny who, the day after she turns 27, is told in a letter to leave the Playboy mansion. On a side note, the Playboy mansion comes off as a socialist paradise for the pretty girls who are fed and pampered, but apparently have no real income or will of their own to count on.Poor Shelley leaves and, following a night in jail in which she suggests that a man (unknowingly assuming he is a woman) in drag would look better if he used less make up, stumbles upon a grouping of sorority houses. Regarding them as a mini-Playboy mansion, she seeks to be taken care of again, and is pointed to the sorority ZEDA.Of course throw in the tiresome cliché that ZEDA is about to lose their sorority charter because they are short 30 sorority sisters...and that the current sisters are rebels, oblivious or social outcasts, and you have a perfect storm for Shelly to walk into.Yes, the story is obvious, but Faris is fantastic as Shelley, trying to teach the girls to be 'sexy,' although what she really begins to teach them is a little deeper than that. And of course as the girls begin to get more popular, and ZEDA (which is what I think it was, though it may have been ZETA) begins to get more pledges, the sorority standards begin to get more exclusive, causing the girls to question what they have become, and to ultimately blame Shelley.Throw into this a rival sorority of exclusive snobs who is trying to take over the ZEDA house and so tries to ensure they lose their sorority charter, and the film plays like any other.That being said however, the film is still quite funny in parts, and very fun to watch.
Doesn't live up to its own bad tastes
posted on 01 Aug 2009look I like bad movies,i.e. The Marine. I picked up this movie with the hopes it would be a guilty plesure type of bad. I was disappointed. First this rips off SNYDEY WHITE and REVENGE OF THE NERDS in plot. It tries to have a lesson or moral to the story and it does. However,the script is not smooth. Things seem to move in a jerky manner. The movie never really decides on what it wants to be, either raunchy or sweet. The lead actress is quite good, but she is let down by the script. the other girls in Zeta house are not all developed and are short changed in screen time,i.e. the short girl. The villians aren't that bad and the big climax at the meeting is not exciting. The love relationship between the bunny and the man is not... well no chemistry at all. This movie sounds cute when you read the back cover of the DVD case but it never lives up to hope of a great "bad movie." I know this sounds rather disjoined but that is the way the movie is.
It's nothing new, but it's still enjoyable...
posted on 01 Aug 2009What happens when you turn twenty-seven and you're a Playboy Bunny? Hef kicks you out of his mansion. I know, harsh, but those are the bitter realities of taking your clothes off for a living. Poor misinformed Shelly Darlingson learns the hard way what aging will get you when she is thrown from the mansion and left homeless at the beginning of `The House Bunny'. She goes from living it up to living in her car, but you can't keep a good girl down. Through a series of preposterous events Shelly finds herself the house mother of a fraternity about to lose its house thanks to a lack of support and members. What these misfits need is a good makeover, and Shelly is just the right person for the job.
Hehe, like seriously, this movie is not good, but it's funny if you're into this kind of humor, and it will serve as a decent escape from the realities of everyday life.
The film is beyond ridiculous, and it is predictable beyond belief, but it is fun and sometimes that is all that matters. Anna Faris is hysterical to me. I truly adore her. She is the only reason to watch any of the `Scary Movie' sequels, and she continues to hone her comedic timing in fare like `Just Friends' and smarter films like `Lost in Translation'. This is not her smartest work, but it is one of her most effective performances. She finds the right balance between Shelley's ditzyness and her earnestness. The rest of the cast do a fine job of keeping up, especially Kat Dennings and Emma Stone (ugh, love her).
This is your typical story of ugly unpopular girls get prettified and become popular all to the snobby popular girls disproval and wind up saving face and becoming the girls they always wanted to be. It's `Sorority Girls' only funnier and less offensive.
Plus, it has the girl's next-door in it!
So, here's my official take. It's a decent movie that delivers the laughs. Sure, some of the humor is pretty lowbrow and you may have to enjoy making fun of others abnormalities to enjoy some of the humor, but if you turn off your brain and soak in the film then you will find yourself enjoying just about every minute. Anna Farris is a laugh riot and deserves to be recognized for that. Give this girl more work, maybe something smarter, and watch her soak it all up. She has talent enough to become a huge comedic actress.
Faris is good but the movie doesn't make her a centerfold
posted on 21 Jul 2009"The House Bunny" has a funny concept and what looks like a "Legally Blonde" form of execution. If Anna Faris, most commonly known as the one portraying/making fun of the Neve Campbell "Scream" role in the "Scary Movies" was ever going to become the next big female comedienne the time would be now. She showed she was willing to make fun of herself in those movies but I still wonder if she can play a sincere, actual human being rather than a character meant to be the punch line most of the time. "Bunny" was written by "Blonde" screenwriters Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith so that could be good news but a lot of the weight of this movie is going to rest on the shoulders of it star. Reese Witherspoon made that movie what it was and the big question here is, can Faris do the same? She plays Shelley, a ditzy playboy bunny with big dreams of becoming the next centerfold who instead is tossed out on her ass by Hugh after her 27th birthday. Shelley went from the orphanage to the mansion so she never quite got the fill gist of the outside world. Now homeless and with very few survival skills, she has no idea what to do next. Just through happenstance, she encounters something that looks like a mini Playboy mansion but is in fact the best college sorority on campus. They decline her for house mother but she finds a home with the Zeta sorority, a group of misfit girls, led by Natalie (Emma Stone), who seriously need to improve their image and attract new members in order to stop the college from closing their house. Enter Shelley to give the girls make-overs.This movie made me laugh out loud twice. One involved the manhole cover joke in the trailer, and the other was a really good jab at Bob Saget. The rest of the movie is likable and has a nice message but really can't seem to wring that many laughs out of a good premise. It's a parody against the bimbo ideology, first having Shelley turn the girls into mindless, skimpy-looking prostitutes only to realize later that you also have to have substance too. Sometimes it gets a few chuckles and other times it comes off looking embarrassingly sitcom-ish, like when Shelley tries to look brainy to impress a guy by wearing very thick glasses that make her dizzy, but overall the script isn't as smart or funny as "Legally Blonde" and that hurts its chances. The movie also treats some of the secondary characters in really bad taste, like a girl whose such a misfit she actually talks like Frankenstein and walks like Igor, and I was confused by some others, like a girl who supposedly is bad with boys and yet is pregnant.I was also confused by the mental abilities of the main character. At times she seems dumber than dirt and at other times she seems almost profound. That she works regardless of this has less to do with the script and more to do with Anna Faris. I don't think this will be the star-making role I thought it would be for her but she gives Shelley a very sweet, genial nature and she is willing to throw herself into silly situations with an innocent and goofy charm. Emma Stone is also pretty funny in this movie, dialing up the dorky meter to about an 8. I feel bad for Colin Hanks though. This kid just doesn't seem to be getting many chances to shine, and here he's wasted as the romantic lead in a movie that's pretty low on the romance."The House Bunny" begins, middles, and ends like most college movies do, just unfortunately its not funny or clever enough to distract from the generic plotting. Most of the secondary characters are also wasted as well but maybe, it will put Anna Faris on some people's radars. She is a very funny comic actress and with the right script, its possible she could be the next big thing.
Horribly Horribly written and acted
posted on 20 Jul 2009This had the potential of being a harmless fluffy movie.
Instead... it was so stupid, so badly acted and written with idiotic plot moments that it stunk up the room.
Seriously. This made High School Musical III look like a brilliant movie in comparison.
Introducing a Major Comic Talent
posted on 15 Jul 2009Anna Faris makes this paper thin attempt at comedy overwhelmingly worthwhile. She is an original that reminded me of some other glories, from Carole Lombard to Goldie Hawn. Her innocence is so believable that we go with her wherever she decides to go. I wish the producers and responsible for this movie getting made had gone all the way and provided this extraordinary comic talent with a more substantial script and direction giving her the opportunity to shine even more than she shines here and here shine she does, big time. Just look at her listening, trying to make sense of what's happening around her. Deeply moving, very funny, kind of unique. I hope she soon finds her Garson Kanin and her George Cukor. I have the feeling we ain't seen nothing yet
Classic and constantly funny
posted on 31 Aug 2009House Bunny is a classic silly comedy in the style of animal house and dumb and dumber, however, what sets this movie apart is the heart and soul that brings the characters together to overcome adversities within the university setting. The heart and soul is funny and in no way does it pull the movie down.
The dialogue and sub-plots stay light-hearted and silly throughout. It has a happy ending. I thoroughly enjoyed the characters and Anna Faris's character was just charming and adorable.