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.
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December 19, 2008 "Please retry" | — | 1 | $3.12 | $1.25 |
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"Please retry" | — | — | $20.01 | $20.01 | — |
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Reviews with images
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~ Uplifting, Hilarious, and Fun! ~
To be honest, I did not expect to fall in love with this movie, given the story line. However, this has become one of our favorite "goto" movies when in need of a good laugh. It is just super sweet and very funny AND uplifting. This is my favorite role played by Anna Faris, absolutely. Anybody we have recommended it to has loved it as well. Highly recommended! The House Bunny This movie will crack you up AND cheer you up!
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Mike Williams
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