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The House Bunny

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The House Bunny
Theatrical release poster
Directed byFred Wolf
Written byKirsten Smith
Karen McCullah Lutz
Produced byAnna Faris
Adam Sandler
Allen Covert
Jack Giarraputo
Kirsten Smith
Karen McCullah Lutz
StarringAnna Faris
Colin Hanks
Emma Stone
Kat Dennings
Katharine McPhee
Rumer Willis
Kiely Williams
Hugh Hefner
CinematographyShelly Johnson
Edited byDebra Chiate
Music byWaddy Wachtel
Production
companies
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
August 22, 2008 (2008-08-22)
Running time
97 minutes
CountryTemplate:Film US
LanguageEnglish
Budget$25 million
Box office$70,442,940[1]

The House Bunny is a 2008 romantic comedy directed by Fred Wolf, written by Kirsten Smith and Karen McCullah Lutz, and starring Anna Faris as a former Playboy bunny who signs up to be the new house mother at a university sorority after being conned by a rival into believing she's now too old by Playboy standards. The cast also includes Katharine McPhee, Colin Hanks, Kat Dennings, Emma Stone, Rumer Willis and Tyson Ritter.

Plot

Shelley Darlington (Anna Faris) is an aspiring Playboy Playmate living the life of luxury in the Playboy Mansion. The day after her twenty-seventh birthday, she awakes to find a note, seemingly from Hugh Hefner, asking her to pack up and leave because she is too old to be a Bunny now. Depressed, Shelley leaves in the old car she had arrived in when she first moved into the mansion. After getting in trouble with a police officer, and spending the night in jail, she happens to stumble upon a group of girls who remind her of herself: beautiful and fun. She follows them and sees that they live in luxury too. She tells them of her situation and asks to join them, not knowing that they are members of the Phi Iota Mu sorority; she is rejected by the snobbish Phis because she is not a student. She then sees there are older ladies called "house mothers" who live with the sorority sisters and watch over them, but after asking them to join, she is rejected again and told to inquire with the Zeta Alpha Zeta sorority.

She makes her way down to the Zeta house, which appears to be far less 'luxurious' than the first sorority she visited. The members of the Zeta house are dowdy, socially awkward, and caught off guard by Shelley's bubbly nature, prompting them to initially reject her. However, once they see that Shelley is able to attract boys and friends, the Zetas change their mind and take in Shelley as their new "house mother." When getting to know them, the Zetas explain their dilemma of how their sorority is in danger of being shut down, as they have never managed to get 30 pledges to their house. They decide that Shelley can help them gain popularity, in order to gain their 30 pledges.

Shelley then decides to start a car-wash, in order to raise money for the girls. As Natalie (Emma Stone) and Shelley are washing cars, a group of guys come to talk to them, one of them being Colby (Tyson Ritter), they boy who Natalie has a huge crush on. But as they are talking, Natalie is failing to impress the guys, and embarrasses herself by squirting water from a hose onto her crotch.

During her time spent with "The Zetas", Shelley meets an intellectual, altruistic guy named Oliver (Colin Hanks); who works at a senior-citizens home, who Shelley seems to like. Later in the film, Shelley gives the girls a makeover and lessons on how to attract guys and be popular. After their makeover, the girls make a calendar and sell it around campus, then the girls go to visit where Oliver works.

The girls then decide, to maximize their popularity, they should throw a party. They have an Aztec theme, and they decide to 'sacrifice' Natalie, as she is a virgin. During the party, she converses with Colby.

Shelley goes out on a date with Oliver, and while her flirty tactics work with most guys, they fail with him, for he is a guy who actually wants to have a conversation with a girl before he actually "sleeps" with her. The date doesn't go so well. Meanwhile, the Zeta girls are viewing the girls who are hoping to pledge to Zeta and are making their pledge acceptances. They begin to realize how judgmental they are being towards every girl, and they begin to accuse Shelley of changing them. As Shelley is coming back from the unsuccessful date, she receives a call from Hugh Hefner telling her he wants her back at the PlayBoy mansion. Shelley turns down the offer, because she cares for the Zetas too much. As she goes into the house, the girls get mad with her, saying she changed them. Upset, Shelley calls Hugh back and says she will come back. The Zetas then have another make-over, where they decide to be 'Half-Shelley and Half-Them'. They also decide to draw the pledges out at random, instead of judging them. Natalie and Colby finally start a relationship. Hugh has chosen to make Shelly 'Miss November'. However, while away at a photo shoot, Shelley misses the Zetas, and changes her mind about her dream of being a centerfold. As she is leaving the photoshoot, the Zetas arrive and ask for her back as a house mother. She agrees, and they return.

As Lily (Kiely Williams) is mailing out the invitations, she is distracted by an attractive boy, who is flirting with her. As she is not looking, Ashley (Sarah Wright) throws all her pledge invitations in the trash, and delivers out different ones. When asking the guy working at the desk what happened to them, he explains that he got them and they have been delivered out, unaware that they had been swapped.

The Zetas are now in huge danger of losing their house due to the Phis sabotaging their recruitment list; they need 30 pledges before the adjournment of the pan-Hellenic council meeting on campus. Shelley and the Zetas crash the meeting. Shelley gives a heartfelt speech about what her experience with the Zetas has taught her about love and acceptance, and a gradual total of 30 students in the audience agree to pledge the Zeta House, the 30th being Ashley's best friend who is sick of being a Phi and wants to join the Zetas. With the future of the Zetas secured, Natalie reveals that she contacted Oliver on Shelley's behalf; Oliver agrees to go out with Shelley again and try to get to know the "real" her.

The film ends with Zetas and their new pledges celebrating and ends happily.

Cast

Music

Though a soundtrack was not released, a single was released to iTunes on July 16, 2008.[citation needed] The single was a cover of The Waitresses song, "I Know What Boys Like", by Katharine McPhee (featuring Kat Dennings, Emma Stone, and Rumer Willis). The film also featured songs by artists including:

Production

Faris filming a scene from the movie

Faris had pitched the film's concept to a few companies and Happy Madison picked it up. The working title of the film was I Know What Boys Like. The film was made during Summer 2007.

Reception

Critical reception

Anna Faris' performance was praised by most critics; however, the film itself received mixed reviews. It currently has a 39% "Rotten" rating at Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus stating "Anna Faris is game, but she can't salvage this middling, formulaic comedy.[3] (Cult)ure film critic, Kevin Johns, suggested, "The House Bunny would have, perhaps, garnered more laughs if it had actually addressed just how difficult it is for young women to transform their identity, or if it dared to explore the challenge of finding that elusive balance between outer appearance and inner beauty... Instead, the film... tells a fairytale narrative in which any difficulties amalgamating looks with intellect can be overcome by a quick montage or, even worse, a 'Where My Zetas At?' hip-hop dance number." Variety's John Anderson stated that this movie was a "Blissfully broad comedy that should catapult Anna Faris into a singular kind of stardom."[4] Another critic on Cinematical said, "Watching Faris prance about playing Playboy's dumbest blonde is worth the price of admission in itself, so go in with your brain on neutral and the movie for all it is: A simple, seductive, slice of late-summer sunshine."[5]

Box office

The House Bunny was released in the US on August 22, 2008. It debuted at #1 on its first day of release making $5.91 million, but ultimately landed in second place for its opening weekend, making $14.53 million,[6] behind Ben Stiller's action-comedy film Tropic Thunder, which made $16.27 million. As of March 22, 2009, the film had grossed $70 million worldwide ($48 million domestic and $22 million overseas).[1] The film debuted in the UK chart at #1 grossing almost $1 million in its first weekend.

References

  1. ^ a b The House Bunny (2008). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  2. ^ ReelSoundtrack - Music Soundtrack - The House Bunny (2008). Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  3. ^ The House Bunny Movie Reviews, Pictures. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  4. ^ Anderson, John (2008-08-20). The House Bunny - Movie Reviews. Variety. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  5. ^ Davis, Erik (2008-08-22). Review: The House Bunny. Cinematical. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
  6. ^ John M. Guilfoil (2008-08-24). The Hollywood Charts, Aug. 24. BlastMagazine.com. Retrieved 2010-11-27.

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