The House Bunny stars Anna Farris (best known for starring in the Scary Movie franchise) as Shelley Darlingson, a Playboy Bunny that longs for her shot at a being featured in the magazine’s legendary centerfold.  When the movie opens, she’s living an idyllic existence at a highly romanticized and sanitized version of the Playboy Mansion.  However she is kicked out of the mansion on her 27^th birthday; kind of like Menudo for hot chicks. 

After a brief period of homelessness, she ends up as the house mother for the Zeta Alpha Zeta sorority (not to be confused with the actual sorority Zeta Tau Alpha).  The Zetas are the nerd sorority and are in danger of being kicked off campus due to dwindling enrollment.  The sorority hires Shelley to be their house mother (an adult that oversees Greek organizations’ housing for you GDI’s).  In the process, she teaches them to meet boys and be a little less nerdy and they help her learn that there is more to life than just being pretty.

As far as plots go, it’s pretty rudimentary.  But people aren’t seeing movies like this for storytelling.  It comes down to whether or not it brings the funny.

The House Bunny is produced by Happy Madison Productions.  If that name doesn’t ring a bell allow me to help: it’s Adam Sandler’s production company.  It’s a rare occasion when an Adam Sandler movie makes me laugh.  Personally, I feel he peaked with Happy Gilmore, his loony and infinitely quotable golf movie.  When a movie comes with his “seal-of-approval,” it’s more of a warning than an enticement.

So, imagine my surprise when this movie actually turned out to be funny.  Granted, it aspires to being nothing more than a female version of an Adam Sandler movie (hey, you have to take the good equality with the bad equality, feminists).  But as such, it’s probably the funniest “Adam Sandler” movie since The Wedding Singer.  Anna Farris carries this movie from beginning to end.  Unlike most comedic actresses today, she’s not afraid to look stupid (both literally and figuratively) in order to get a laugh.  As Steve Martin once told us, “Comedy isn’t pretty.”  Most comedy involves embarrassment on some level for the comedian.  Anna Farris has no fear of that embarrassment and commits 100% to the part.  She is an absolute delight and saves this movie from being a warmed over Rob Schneider vehicle.

The leader of the sorority is played by Emma Stone (Superbad, The Rocker).  She’s serviceable in the role but at times she seems to be doing an impersonation of her Superbad co-star, Jonah Hill.  In all fairness, some of the blame for that falls at the feet of the similarity between the two characters.  Both are geeky, have no skills with members of the opposite sex and reek of desperation.

Katharine McPhee (yes, that Katharine McPhee) plays a pregnant sorority sister.  So, apparently they don’t all have problems meeting boys.  And I must give the filmmakers credit for including a karaoke scene but refraining from having it turn into the “shy-girl-knocks-them-dead-with-her-singing-voice” scene that I think everyone in the theater was expecting/dreading.  Of course, she did sing over the closing credits but that’s to be expected, I guess.

Dana Goodman played the “manly” sorority sister.  Her performance was the most glaringly amateurish out of the cast.  And that’s saying something considering the cast featured Shaquille O’Neal, at least five Playmates and Rumor Willis.

Granted, when it comes to laughs this film isn’t at the same level as, say, 40 Year Old Virgin or Superbad, but it actually is way better than it had any right to be.  Perhaps it’s because I entered with such low expectations that my “pleasant surprise” is over-inflating my opinion of the movie.

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being Happy Gilmore and 1 being Little Nicky, The House Bunny gets a 7.