Reviews In Brief: "The House Bunny" (Fred Wolf, 2008)

The first (and hopefully last) film ever rated PG-13 to focus on a Playboy bunny who moves into a sorority and sluts up some outsider (aka- smart) misfit (aka- ugly) wanna-be co-eds (who isn’t?), The House Bunny is likely the most ineptly edited, written, and directed comedy of this year. Far too long at a mere 97 minutes, The House Bunny is a funny premise, if naive and simple minded, that could easily work as a guilty pleasure, stupidly entertaining movie. Alas, the wealth of material for comedic fodder goes underutilized as it returns time and again to boobs, wet t-shirts, and disastrous makeover jokes. Gum in the hair, water-padded bras, and virgins, oh my! At least it shows for certain that young girls who are beautiful on the outside can be beautiful in the inside, as long as the advantage to short dresses and shit tons of make up can do.

Saving the film from the total bottom of the modern comedic barrel, narrowly avoiding the likes of Deuce Bigalow: European Gigalow and The Man, are the performances by Anna Faris and Emma Stone (and the amusing cameo from Hef.) Faris is in the midst of a solid comedic career, typically playing The Clueless Blonde, by investing herself in her characters, no matter how simple they seem, most notably in last year’s underappreciated stoner comedy Smiley Face. Stone, the beautiful and talented young actress from Superbad, has a similar look to Lindsay Lohan, although much prettier and without the few hundred personal missteps. Stone hasn’t been in very many films yet (nor very many good ones) but her potential, at least in my view, is huge. Even in the midst of disastrously long scenes put together with very little inspiration (especially the terribly long 20 minute opening expositional scene with Shelley's storybook and her time spent at the Bunny Ranch) Faris and Stone stand out and keep The House Bunny (barely) watchable.

by James Hansen