The House Bunny

It feels strange to write this review in February 2023. The Playboy clubs and their bunny waitresses all but disappeared in the US in 1986. As an attempted revival, a Playboy club opened in New York City in September 2018 but folded in November 2019. The last centerfold was Kristy Garett from the Republic of Georgia as Miss February 2016. Even the sanitized version of the magazine had its last print issue on March 17, 2020. Hugh Hefner died more than five years ago, on 27 September 2017. He had sold the Playboy mansion West in Holmby CA one year before he died with the proviso he could live there until his death. The mansion itself went through tough times afterwards. So, why am I writing this review? Because I have recently become an aficionado of the films of Anna Faris, after viewing the amazing 2007 “Smiley Face” (which I have reviewed elsewhere on Amazon). “The House Bunny” has become a cult favorite also, although not to the extent of “Smiley Face”. Anna Faris was thirty-one years old when she did “House Bunny” in 2008. Among her costars are the future A-lister Emma Stone, then just one year into her film career, in a frumpy role, Tom Hanks’ son Colin, in his third film, as well as Rumer Willis at twenty, Bruce and Demi’s daughter, in one of her first films without one of her parents. Some portions of “House Bunny” were shot at the Playboy mansion and Hugh Hefner, at eighty-two, shows up as himself in the film. Anna Faris’ character, Shelley Darlington, introduces herself as “My name is Shelley. Now I live in the Playboy mansion, and this is where I want to live happily ever after”. The first twenty minutes of the film sound as they might have been written by Hugh Hefner as a premature epitaph (maybe they were). Shelly continues with “Being a centerfold is the highest most prestigious honor there is” (!?!). On life at the mansion: “Oh, it’s paradise. We’re just one big family. I am so happy. Why would I want to live anywhere else?”. At the store, after shopping with three other playmates - on the mansion’s account - as a prelude to her twenty-seventh birthday bash, “Aren’t we just the luckiest girls in the whole world?” Salesgirl: “Yes, you are”. The morning after her big birthday bash, things turn sour. Shelley is handed a note, later shown to be a fake, presented as coming from Hefner, asking her to leave the mansion immediately. Unable to reach Hefner for verification, Shelley leaves. After a few days of living out of her car, she ends up as the housemother to the Zeta Alpha Zeta sorority of some college. This sorority is down to seven members, all socially challenged in various ways, and is about to lose its house. The rest of the film shows Shelley remaking the sorority and its members into a social success with the males of the species. At the end of the film, we get the requisite nod to superficial feminism, i.e., the confirmation that appearances are transitory and that it’s the inner beauty that counts, and, of course, the sorority gains enough additional members to keep the house. Let’s face it, most of the film is silly. Even if you are just a run-of-the-mill feminist, there is no way you will like it, unless endowed with a well-functioning sense of humor. By the way, it was not written by some old male chauvinist pig but by two young female writers, Kristen Smith and Karen McCullah. There are some excellent individual lines in the film. Among them, “The eyes are the nipples of the face” and “A brothel? Oh, I am not looking to make soup”. And who can suppress a smile as Shelley describes her humble career in the Playboy magazine by “Just a couple of small pictorials. Girls of the Midwest. Girls with GEDs. Girls of Charlie Sheen.” I am not the only fan of Anna Faris’ films. Dana Stevens headlines her 8/21/2008 review of The House Bunny with “SAVE FARIS – When will someone give Anna Faris the role she deserves?”. The strength of Anna Faris’ performance, in this film as well as in others, is that she is not only a top-tier natural comedian but that she gives it her all, whatever the quality of her lines. PS. I ordered the 2018 remake of “Overboard”, also with Anna Faris. Looking forward to it.

Sure this flick is formulaic and derivative but I loved it. It's consistently funny and engaging and it'll make you grin from ear to ear. This film should have been the one to break Anna Faris big. Her Shelley may be a little vapid but she's no dumb bunny. Anybody who would typecast her as a dumb blonde should check her out in the underrated "My Super Ex-Girlfriend". Like Reese Witherspoon's Elle Woods in "Legally Blonde" this is the kind of role that should catapult her to better things. Not to be overlooked is Emma Stone as the wallflower president of the sorority that Shelley becomes housemother to. I was expecting a cliched girl nerd turn but Stone imbues Natalie with warmth and complexity. It was also pretty cool that Hugh Hefner is on hand to take a self-deprecating portrayal of his image. The only debit here is stiff as wood Colin Hanks as Shelley's perfunctory love interest. Hanks may have inherited his dad's vocal ticks but has nil of his acting chops. I saw this on a sick day and it was just what the doctor ordered.

Always the best movie

She’s so cute in all her movies and great one liners. I can’t see anybody else playing her part for a good laugh and amazing transformations. Watch it.

Funny and entertaining. Will watvh this again

Item arrived on time and as described

This is a funny, easy-to-watch movie! Lots of laughs and appropriate for all different groups.

this movie is no joke one of the best 2000s comedies!! Anna Faris is amazing in this, and seeing a young Emma Stone embody the role of an awkward college student is to die for.

Me llego en excelentes condiciones lo que mas me facino es que tiene el idioma español Latino, ya se agregara a mi colección.

Ótimo, com dublagem em português BR

I bought this film for my wife, as it seemed to position itself as a chick flick (I assumed there would be enough content to keep my interest as we watched it). As it was, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is smart, funny, and a little deeper than its title might suggest. The blu-ray image was superb - as good as any I have seen. The premise of the film revolves around a Playboy bunny leaving the mansion and becoming the House Mother to a small group of apparently helpless and unpopular girls. If they don't get more pledges to their house soon, then their house is history. Enter the House Bunny, who gives them a makeover. So far, so predictable. However, this is where the film turns into something more interesting, as the house girls turn increasingly bitchy and our heroine is summoned back to the mansion to fulfil her dream of being a Playmate. Will she leave her house to follow her own dreams and, if she does, will they get the pledges they need? Watch it and find out. Oh, and my wife would never forgive me if I didn't mention the love story that is also integral to the film - the will she or won't she routine. The film left me with the intended feel good factor and a deeper appreciation of all things Playboy - Heff is a lucky guy - but this is a chick flick so I probably can't say that.

Para los que la buscamos en castellano, esta versión de uk la lleva incluida y en catalán ya que en Internet está confuso el tema. Pongo foto para que lo veáis ya que en España está descatalogada.

最終絶叫計画を見てからアンナ・ファリスって面白い! と思って大好きでしたが、この作品ではもっと好きになると思います。アダム・サンドラーの会社ハッピー・マディソンが制作した映画作品で彼女がはじめての女性のプロデューサーとなったことからもわかるように、最高のコメディエンヌだと思います。 2014年に『バードマン』でオスカー・ノミニーとなった人気女優エマ・ストーンが出演していますが、彼女の演技力も際立っています。とても地味だった女の子からとても美人に変化する様子がリアルでとても可愛かったです。 意地悪な女の子としてサラ・ライトという女優が出ていますが、彼女が最近結婚した相手が『ホット・チック』でアンナの恋人役(ちょっとした悪役)を演じたエリック・クリスチャン・オルセンという俳優なので、なんか因縁を感じてしまいます。