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The House Bunny: Awkward Humor Wrapped in Pink Spandex

OK, that time I am sure something just touched my butt.

Searching for the right words to start this review made me feel as dumb as the main character in this movie acts. The House Bunny is a low-ball comedy pegged deep in a summer filled with high concept humor, but does it succeed as a welcome break? Yes, but just barely.

Anna Faris stars in the movie as Shelley, a Playboy Playmate seemingly past her prime, who is unceremoniously booted from Hef’s paradise. In her search for work in a world which is wildly beyond her understanding, she stumbles into a sorority house on the verge of losing its charter because no one, and I mean absolutely no one, wants to hang out with the girls who live there. Shelley sees an opportunity to bedazzle and befriend these girls, turning them into the popular chicks on campus, while the girls see Shelley as the last ditch effort to save their house. Sweatshirts turn to hot pants, frizzy turns to fabulous and piercings turn to pedicures. But, in an effort to keep some sort of moral along the way, both sides learn what it really means to be a family and how much value should be placed on what other people think of you.

So there you have the basic idea, which is nothing terribly new. Beat for beat The House Bunny could be superimposed over other recent college romps as Accepted and Sydney White (the latter being a modern day re-telling of the fairy tale, Snow White). Not to say it doesn’t bring anything new to the table. The supremely odd characters created inside the sorority are worth a look, if not a shudder. Anna Faris does what she does best, play people so mentally vacant, so completely oblivious that the sheer fact they can remember to breathe on their own is a gold medal worthy accomplishment (like the Olympics reference? they’re everywhere!!!). In reality Anna is extremely intelligent and knows exactly what she is doing to keep her career moving along, in fact, she was an executive producer on this movie and I wouldn’t be surprised to see her taking the reins even more in the future. From her first big pop on screen in the original Scary Movie, it was easy to see there was more to her than a beaming smile and big, pretty eyes. She plays her roles with a fearlessness most actors can only strive for. The biggest benefit to The House Bunny is her co-stars seem equally trained and willing to look as blatantly stupid as needed. Emma Stone, whom I just reviewed in The Rocker, brings on one of the most uncontrollably awkward characters in the film and alongside Anna delivers the hands down funniest scene in the picture. As hardcore as she looked in her last film, she’s totally replaced it with social ineptitude on a magical level. Also helping to form out the rowdy bunch of misfits is Kat Dennings as their resident pierced, hoodie shielded, man-hater. Kat makes the shift through the film to uber-hottie a little too easily, but I think it was more due to not enough time to devote to her character, not the fault of the actress (who can also be seen co-starring in the upcoming Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist alongside comedy wunderkid Michael Cera). Finally, slipping in between the cracks in the credits, is Rumer Willis, daughter of action icon Bruce Willis. She also succeeds in being socially unfit due to her wearing a upper body metallic brace, possibly fashioned from some Victorian suit of armor. The main downside for Rumer is once the brace disappears, so does her character. Deserving a special mention is Dana Goodman, who plays Carrie Mae, a painfully funny mix of a lumberjack, a greco-roman wrestler, with a topping of Jim Carrey . They made no attempt to explain how someone so odd could exist, but we really didn’t need one.

Although the movie does level out and take on a level of charm, the opening thirty minutes are filled with some of the most painful and uncomfortable awkwardness I’ve been exposed to in a long time. It was there to serve the story and prove how socially oblivious these girls were, but the movie took it to such a level where I almost felt bad for laughing. Most of the opening gags were met with uneasy groans from the audience instead of chuckles and laughs of understanding. Once the girls make the switch from freak shows to femme fatales, the movie finds a much more familiar rhythm and plays that tune until the final credits. Another fault is the misuse in the cast of Kiely Williams and Kimberly Makkouk. Kiely plays Lilly, a mute girl who sends most of dialogue through text messages to the other girls. Her first appearance in the movie comes out of nowhere, or I suppose more literally she dives out of locked room off screen, but her initial outfit is terribly reminiscent of something the maid would wear in Gone With the Wind. The only reason this is worth mentioning is Kiely is the only African American actor in the movie. I’m not saying it was intentionally racist, just saying the wardrobe person took a nap through 400 years of her American History class. As for Kimberly, she plays Tanya, who has a whopping handful of lines in the whole movie and is only part of the outcast crew because she’s tiny, somewhere near dwarf status. While some people might find the few height jokes in the flick worthwhile, it just wasn’t enough to make her character necessary in the least.

I couldn’t possibly write about this without bringing up the continuing trend of casting musicians in feature films. In the role of Harmony, the pregnant member of the house, is Katherine McPhee, American Idol runner-up in Season 5. She does have an amazing voice, which is used in the ending credits and a cringe worthy karaoke scene early on, but she also got tons of notice due to her flawless looks. That imagery only continues in The House Bunny because even nine months pregnant it’s hard to believe college guys wouldn’t be tossing themselves in her path. Adding one more to the musical mix is Tyson Ritter, the lead singer of All-American Rejects. He does a turn as Colby, the long time super-crush of Emma Stone’s character. Not enough really there to say whether he’s a good actor or not, but honestly the character wasn’t cool enough either to make us understand why Emma liked him so much.

Recommendation: It’s a silly comedy that does earn some stripes in the latter half, but be prepared to ache with awkwardness throughout the opening scenes. Uncomfortability is the name of the game here. If you’re down for that, feel free to check it out, but you can honestly wait until video.

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Daily Musings 3/14

1 – This parody of the creation of early 80′s video games is pretty spot on. I almost thought I was watching a documentary instead of a spoof. Best line: “Oh f*ck, she’s not even there. I’m totally freakin’ out, man.” [via GorillaMask via Cracked]

2 – This is the latest video from a hilariously disturbed team of people. I have already ordered 9 cases of Rawberry, so everyone in the lower California area, be warned. [via TCritic]

3 – Some people are not letting Marion Cottilard off the hook for her 9/11 conspiracy comments. Now one of those jeering voices is asking for her to be stripped of her Oscar saying:

“Marion Cotillard proves to be just another idiot lefty-actor and ugly French woman trashing America”

Wow, powerful argument there from Pastor Robert Westman, although let me take a few shots at debunking his argument. First, he is a Pastor and he is defending his opinion with terms like ‘idiot lefty-actor’ and ‘ugly French woman’. Where do I sign up for his church of hope and positive energy? Next, he is the leader of a family watchdog group called Options, which I can find absolutely nothing on. The lack of easy to find web information on any group instantly means they are extremists and nuts (see how I jump to conclusions about people, almost like judging someones intelligence because they are French, ironyyyyyy…). So we will all sleep well tonight knowing that our moral outrages are being well handled by the offensive and hypocritical of our great nation. [via Starpulse]

4 – If you are a sneakers fan, you might want to look into this new treasure hunt being sponsored by Nike in promotion for their new exclusive line. It’s going on in seven cities, but one of them is here in super sunny Los Angeles, so get your cell phone cameras out and put on your Indiana Jones hat. It’s time to hunt the elusive Kicks of Destiny. [via Josh Spear]

5 – Jim Carrey took on yet another role the other night while promoting his new movie, Horton Hears a Who?. He showed up to American Idol dressed as an elephant and then posed in the waiting area as if he was one of the twelve finalists. I can honestly say this is one of the only times I wished I has seen that show. [via Starpulse]

6 – This kindly older couple, Fred and Sharon, appeared all over the net a week or so ago. Here is the latest is the steady stream of creepier and creepier videos promoting their personal production company. I wonder if we can get him to produce film reviews for Sexman? It’ll be like chocolate and peanut butter, peanut butter and jelly, peanut butter and the roof of a dog’s mouth… [via FilmDrunk]

7 – Damn you Facebook for allowing yet another addicting application to be tossed at me by non-physical contact friends. Knighthood is the fantasy, ex-D&D playing, super-nerd drug of choice in the online networking world. I’m a Knight already, that’s right. Feel the power.

8 – Ever sit back and wonder how all the evil villains of the world come up with such insanely intricate plans? Flowcharts, that’s how. It the secret ingredient to all the great successes of the world. Try one for yourself. I’ll give you ten dollars if you’re not the new dictator of a small third world country by noon. [via Cracked via GorillaMask]

9 – Take The Color of Money, switch Paul Newman for Burt Reynolds, switch Tom Cruise for some newbie, switch Mary Elizabeth Masterantonio for Shannon Elizabeth, switch the game of pool for poker, take out all the incredibly good music like Werewolves of London by Warren Zevon, oh, let’s not forget switch out Martin Scorsese for anyone else. One you have made all these glaring mistakes and horrible choices, now you a new movie called Deal. Well done, people. [via FilmDrunk]

10 – Evidently today is “Pi” day. Now before you start writing in to tell me my spelling is off and gorging yourself on gooey slices of that cherry pie sitting on that nice, old lady’s windowsill, I didn’t spell anything wrong (at least not there). This is the day to celebrate the mathematical number Pi, which translates out to 3.14blahblablahblahblah forever. Those math guys need a holiday too, seriously, get up out of your cubicle and walk around for a bit. If you do, I’ll get you some pie, the real one this time. [via swissmiss]