Film Review: The House Bunny

I recently saw The House Bunny, which I didn't expect to have seen (as it wasn't on my must-see list of movies). Though I've seen the hilarious previews a lot (on TV and in theaters when I saw The Dark Knight , The X-Files: I Want To Believe , and Mamma Mia movies), a friend of mine saw this first and told me to see it as he told me it was so funny. I was like, ok...I'll go and see it for myself. It if will make me laugh and entertain me at the same time, I guess I'll like and enjoy it. If not, then, it won't. Either way, I was curious to see it. So, I did and my friend sure was right. It was surprisingly very funny, which I didn't expect. Anna Farris sure didn't disappoint as she was so funny in this movie (much more than her Scary Movies, lol).

The House Bunny
starring Anna Faris, Colin Hanks, Emma Stone,
Katharine McPhee, Rumer Willis, Beverly D'Angelo

Brief Synopsis:
When Shelly (Anna Faris), a Playboy bunny, is tossed out of the mansion, she has nowhere to go until she falls in with the sorority girls from Zeta Alpha Zeta. The members of the sorority - who also have got to be the seven most socially clueless women on the planet - are about to lose their house. They need a dose of what only the eternally bubbly Shelley can provide... but they will each learn on their own to stop pretending to be what others want them to be and start being themselves.

Here's my House Bunny Review:

I saw this movie without expectations other than to just to be able to laugh and have some fun...and surprisingly, I did. At first, I thought the funny parts would be just the ones I saw on the trailer (as I often see in most comedy films these days) and not so much in the movie. I must admit, I was kinda wrong (lol) and pleasantly surprised to have seen more funny stuff in this film. Not to say it was one of the funniest films I've seen, but I can definitely say, one of those few funny movies I've seen this year that sure made me laugh out loud. So, yeah, I had a great time watching The House Bunny. Though I must say, THB was much like an Adam Sandler movie for girls, with Anna Faris breathing life into an otherwise somewhat flat movie with her uncanny comic ability and unbeatable charm. In short, she makes the movie watchable, and in some moments, likable, funny, and entertaining.

I thought Anna Faris as Shelly, one of Hugh Hefner's playboy bunnies was the best and funniest thing in this movie. She was likable, adorable, intelligently clueless, and of course, roll on the floor hilarious. She was the reason the Scary Movie series was so much better or rather funnier to watch than the other movies in that series (Date, Superhero, Epic Movies), and her charm and charisma carries more over here. Her random one-liners in this movie were hilarious. She had me laughing a lot when she used her husky-deeper-exorcist-like-voice to remember names like her new friends' names, "Natalie," "Harmony," "Lilly," and "Oliver," hahaha!!! Everyone in the theater was laughing so hard when she said those names, lol.

In addition to Anna Faris, the strength of the film was the supporting cast (except Hugh Hefner, he was just there because his playboy mansion was used as a prop for the movie and he gets a free pass just for being Hugh Hefner. Not much acting required as he was playing himself, lol). The funny thing was, most of the supporting performers (besides vet actors like Beverly D'Angelo and Christopher Mcdonald) were unknown or few 'non-actors' (aka singers who are acting, lol), but they were still good and funny. Rumer Willis (eldest daughter of Demi Moore and Bruce Willis) as Joanne, though not as great as her parents were (not her fault though, she has two very famous and talented parents to live up to...and those usually are hard ones to follow, lol). Still, she was funny and was good enough here to surprise me and the viewers with her small supporting part in this movie. Katharine McPhee (a runner up in American Idol's 5th season with Taylor Hicks voted as the winner) as Harmony, played the pregnant sorority gal. She was one of the 7 (with Stone's Natalie, Willis' Joanne, and Williams' Lilly to name a few) clueless and unpopular gals from Zeta Alpha Zeta. I thought she was funny in the karaoke scene. She didn't get enough screen time here though, but she does do a good job with what she was given. Keily Williams (fomerly of 3LW and currently of Disney's The Cheetah Girls group) was ok here. I almost didn't notice her till she started talking and it was funny to hear her with a not-so-good British accent, lol. The last of the 3 'non-actors' is the front man for The All American Rejects, Tyson Ritter, was tolerable as Colby, in a bit part.

Now, surprisingly, the best supporting performers here were the other 3 unknown actors (had to imdb them for their names and characters, lol) like Kat Dennings as Mona and Dana Goodman as Carrie Mae (I just noticed that she was listed in imdb as in Adam Sandler's You Don't Mess With The Zohan as Mariah Carey's Assistant #2...hmm, I saw that movie and didn't remember seeing her with MC...probably because she appeared briefly and was PA #2, lol) and the surprisingly funny Emma Stone (Jules from Superbad) as Natalie were all very funny along with Anna Faris' Shelley. Emma Stone, I thought she looked a lot like Lindsay Lohan (from Mean Girls) here, but she was more watchable and funnier here than LL was in MG. She was likable, watchable, and adorable that she was the best supporting lead character in the movie after Anna Faris. Colin Hanks (son of Tom Hanks, of course) was...well, he was ok in this movie as he didn't have much screen time to begin with.

Overall, The House Bunny was surprisingly funny, all because of Anna Faris and Emma Stone. They were so funny and, of course, their supporting fellow female co-stars were funny too. I must say this movie was a combination of Mean Girls and Baby Mama. I laughed a lot and enjoyed both of these films. Also, THB reminded me of the 80s Revenge of the Nerds, Animal House, and the recent Sydney White (with Amanda Bynes) rolled into one, but this movie made me laugh more, lol. So for those of you looking to see a funny movie to laugh and be entertain for 97 minutes, this movie should be the one for you to watch. Also, I thought this movie was a lot more funny to watch than those Scary Movies or any other lame teen comedy films I've seen in the past. It was at least, for me, worth watching for laughs.

My House Bunny Movie Rating: (8/10; B)