Written by: Karen McCullah Lutz & Kirsten Smith
Starring: Anna Faris, Colin Hanks, Emma Stone, Kat Dennings, Dana Goodman, Katharine McPhee
Rating: [3.5/5]
Of the many things Greek life in colleges promise, a sense of connection and unity sits towards the top. Sure, the parties and the philanthropy remain integral but creating a bond between individuals with the same mindset has members of these groups remain fiercely loyal even decades after their induction. Even with all the seriousness, the highly enjoyable The House Bunny displays the overt silliness of these organizations while also having a touching moment for one woman as she searches for a place to call home.
Living at the Playboy mansion and having the time of her life as a bunny, Shelley (Anna Faris) enjoys the luxuries and perks that come with it. Following her receipt of a letter written by Hugh that indicates her being kicked out, she looks to find a new place to call home. When she arrives at a local university where she sees the energy at sorority homes as something she can relate to and when given the option to become a house mother, she must do so with the lowly rated Zeta Alpha Zeta house.
A wide breadth of opinions exist out there regarding the validity of fraternities and sororities, especially the cost that comes with getting involved. However, The House Bunny has no interest in dissecting the efficacy of these organizations but rather taking it all on face value for the purpose of focusing on the importance of connection for Shelley. Something innately sweet as she found herself with nowhere to go and found nothing but judgment when she spoke to the other house mothers who were congregating at Phi Iota Mu. What she manages to accomplish with the Zetas not only in their popularity but also the bond forged creates this emotional core that then allows the rest of this film to go off and get incredibly silly, which it does quite well.
Even with the focus on the community built, this film knows where the comedy lies within this environment and no matter how much these members of sororities speak on the importance of values, it ultimately all comes down to popularity, boys, and who throws the best parties. Shelley fills that niche as well as someone who has attended many lavish ones at the Playboy mansion. The way in which Shelley does this occur in the most ridiculously simple ways and the tricks she tries to teach her Zetas are superficially hilarious. Moments of complimenting a man’s biceps and then asking for a kiss amongst all of her other maneuvers display exactly how she had to operate in her previous life and how it does not necessarily relate to these young college girls who do not see the world the same way.
Of course, all of this comedy becomes overly silly but that ultimately becomes the point of this entire film and it would not have worked without the talents of the great Anna Faris. Never fully receiving all the credit she deserves for her insane comedic chops, Faris has this way of delivering lines in the most ridiculous ways and making it land. From the way Shelley attempts to retain the name of someone upon meeting them or bringing this overall ditzy personality to make a full-fledged lovable character. It’s hard to believe anyone else could step into this role and deliver the same quality based on what this character demands. She gets helped out in this feature by Emma Stone, who has never once missed in her career when going full-on comedic and even early on in her career just knocks it out of the park on each occasion before her major breakout.
Raising many questions and narrative inconsistencies but in the end none of it matters because The House Bunny hits all the right marks in piecing together a hilarious and tidy film. We get some incredibly fun characters working through an ultimately silly situation but something that means so much to these characters in a naturally sweet way. Faris does a splendid job as she usually does in crafting an instantly memorable character, allowing for all the ridiculousness of Shelley to feel wholly organic and something we can fully buy as a character. A movie that’s difficult to dislike unless you’re a Phi Iota Mu.
Films with Josh 
