If there’s one thing that The House Bunny isn’t, it’s clever. But then again, it’s very good at being stupid. This film has Adam Sandler’s seal of idiocy stamped all over it (he’s credited as producer) and it’s not difficult to imagine where it could have gone if not for one single factor: its lead.
Anna Faris, Scary Movie stalwart and expert of comic timing, oozes charm and warmth throughout a film that, without her, verges on the vacuous and predictable.
Shelley Darlingson (Faris) is one of the oldest bunnies in the playboy mansion. So old, in fact, that at twenty seven
she is deemed too old for centrefold, and is kicked to the kerb by Hugh Heffner himself.
Penniless then, alone, and lacking any transferable skills, she is forced to take solace as the live-in mother to a sorority house of social misfits. You can see the makeover montage a mile off, but the group of girls are a pleasant, if clichéd, bunch. They include the likeable pair of Emma Stone and Rumer Willis; Willis is blessed with the face of her mother Demi Moore but cursed with her father Bruce’s chin.
These testaments to She’s All That proceed to return the favour by teaching their mentor how to be smart, and therefore manage to find love with a man who cares more for IQ points than bra-size.
It’s a dodgy premise at best, and certainly not one that’s likely to win any Oscars, but it’s harmless enough. Shelley’s back-story, though comical (she was left in a basket as a baby with a note asking that only the basket need be returned) brings nothing to the narrative, and there is of course the difficult issue of the film’s message. After all, Shelley is ultimately applauded for her success in making women more attractive with peroxide and short skirts. Hardly the best moral, but Faris’ portrayal ensures that it’s all treated innocently enough, and with an attempt at her own intellectual transformation there is at least some recognition of just how shallow the film is. It just misses the ‘female empowerment’ vibe of soemthing like Legally Blonde, but not by much. The end is perhaps a little too farcical, an error made worse by the tongue-in-cheek majority of the film, and as always, the best bits are in the trailer, but if you’re after a good laugh this week, The House Bunny is definitely your best bet.
3 Stars
