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House Bunny, The
Columbia Pictures (Sony)

House Bunny, The reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 55 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
6.5 out of 10
based on 22 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 25 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for sex-related humor, partial nudity and brief strong language

Starring Anna Faris, Colin Hanks, Emma Stone, Kat Dennings, Dana Goodman, Katharine McPhee, Rumer Willis, Christopher McDonald, and Beverly D'Angelo

Shelley is living a carefree life until a rival gets her tossed out of the Playboy Mansion. With nowhere to go, fate delivers her to the sorority girls from Zeta Alpha Zeta. Unless they can sign a new pledge class, the seven socially clueless women will lose their house to the scheming girls of Phi Iota Mu. In order to accomplish their goal, they need Shelley to teach them the ways of makeup and men; at the same time, Shelley needs some of what the Zetas have – a sense of individuality. The combination leads all the girls to learn how to stop pretending and start being themselves. (Sony Pictures)


GENRE(S): Comedy  
WRITTEN BY: Karen McCullah Lutz
Kirsten Smith
 
DIRECTED BY: Fred Wolf  
RELEASE DATE: Theatrical: August 22, 2008 
RUNNING TIME: minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

80
Los Angeles Times Michael Ordona
Among the sunnier, funnier films of the year, thanks largely to the zest with which Faris embodies a mental vacuum.
Read Full Review
75
TV Guide Ken Fox
Silly but endearing comedy.
Read Full Review
70
LA Weekly Scott Foundas
The movie is basically on one level and Faris on another -- in that exclusive aerie occupied by Judy Holliday, Carole Lombard, Lucille Ball and a few other blissfully original comedy goddesses.
Read Full Review
70
The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen
Manages to stand on its own two skyscraper heels thanks to the comic force of nature that is Anna Faris.
Read Full Review
70
Variety John Anderson
A blissfully broad comedy that should catapult Anna Faris into a singular kind of stardom.
Read Full Review
70
The New York Times Nathan Lee
This particular wheel hasn't been reinvented, but at least it gets a nice fresh coat of bubblegum-pink paint and a star to pilot it with aplomb.
Read Full Review
70
Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
The picture is sharp, in a warm, fuzzy way, about the ways women can sometimes inflict cruelty on other women in the name of feminism. Feminism doesn't have to be the enemy of kindness, but sometimes -- alarmingly often -- it is.
Read Full Review
67
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
The movie flaunts its comedy roots like a messy bleach job.
Read Full Review
67
Christian Science Monitor Robert Koehler
For all her chops as a dramatic actor, she's our new Judy Holliday and Goldie Hawn, only even sharper.
Read Full Review
63
Boston Globe Wesley Morris
The movie is a commercial for Hugh Hefner that makes his magazine seem like "Seventeen."
Read Full Review
63
USA Today Claudia Puig
Bunny is fashioned as a bawdy comedy with heart, but its reliance on formula undercuts the amusing moments.
Read Full Review
60
Slate Dana Stevens
The movie also has some embarrassing laugh-free stretches, but Faris holds everything together with bubbly intelligence, unexpected line readings, and a few deft pratfalls.
Read Full Review
58
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
It's funny. Dumb, yes, but funny.
Read Full Review
50
New York Post Lou Lumenick
So haphazardly written and directed that it barely qualifies as a movie, The House Bunny is watchable solely for the comic stylings of the blond veteran of the "Scary Movie" series.
Read Full Review
50
San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub
Screenwriters Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith may not have any original ideas, but they write some good lines and have a great actress to deliver them.
Read Full Review
50
Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
Despite a winning performance by Anna Faris, the cutest thing in platform shoes since Goldie Hawn, the film falls on its keister so many times that before long the perky pinkness turns bruising black-and-blue.
Read Full Review
50
The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
Faris has mostly logged time in dire vehicles like The House Bunny, which are dumb-dumb to her smart-dumb.
Read Full Review
40
New York Daily News Joe Neumaier
not a good comedy. But there's no airbrushing out the funny surrounding its star.
Read Full Review
40
Austin Chronicle Steve Davis
This empty-headed comedy about a Playmate who finds herself a house mother to a group of misfit sorority sisters is little more than a recycled version of "Legally Blonde" with bunny ears.
Read Full Review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
Yes, from "Blonde" to "Bunny," it's abundantly evident that the two scribes have mastered, truly mastered, the serious art of self-plagiarism.
Read Full Review
30
Wall Street Journal Joanne Kaufman
Unfortunately, Ms. Faris has neither an adroit script -- House Bunny is a stale collection of dumb bunny jokes -- nor Ms. Witherspoon's wily charm. And the filmmakers do Ms. Faris no favors by inviting comparisons to Marilyn Monroe.
Read Full Review
25
ReelViews James Berardinelli
The resulting hodgepodge of unfunny, sophomoric humor and PG-13 T&A, frosted by a sheen of appallingly nauseous "drama," makes for such a noxious brew that it's amazing viewers stay in their seats for the entire production.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 6.5 (out of 10) based on 25 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

CS W. gave it a2:
Terrible disappointment. Could have been very cute, but mishandled and badly written so it ended up a mess. Don't waste your money.

James C. gave it a6:
Well, me and 4 friends wanted to see a movie. 2 of us wanted to see The House Bunny, and the other two (one being me) wanted to see something else... But, since The House Bunny was immediately playing, we all bought tickets and went in. I saw the commercials, and in all honesty, it didn't appeal to me, so as the previews went by, I thought to myself "oh joy, here comes a below mediocre ride". However, I will admit, that at the end, yes, I liked it. I actually liked it. It was funny in some parts, and dry in some, but it was alright, and yes, I liked it. My major criticism though is that a most of the film takes place in a college dorm; in this dorm lives, of course, college students. So why don't any of these students do to class, have homework, projects, assignments, or even so much as TALK about classes? This film has practically NOTHING to do with college. My other criticism is that about 1/4 through the movie, the 7 (I believe) 'nerdy' and socially-unacceptable girls change in appearance and personality; after they changed, I could not recognize them at all (well, I suppose after awhile I could pick out 3 of them). Also, I think their dramatic shift from uncool to 'fabulous' was way too early in the film, and basically consisted of a 1-minute montage consisting of lots and lots of make-up being applied. So yes, The House Bunny has it's laughs, but it's not without it's theme issues. Also, prepare to be confused as to which character is which, if you decide to watch.

Jessi B. gave it an8:
I am in a sorority with the same short name of “Zeta” so when I first saw the trailer to this movie I was curious and angry. I could not believe that they could use this name and I was praying that this would not place yet another bad rep on Greek life. Fortunately I felt like the only people getting mocked were the “house bunnies” and I was glad to see them put a positive spin on sorority life. When the movie started out I was skeptical but I feel that Anna Ferris did an amazing job and that this movie would not have survived without her. This movie had hilarious one-liners and subtle jokes that kept the whole theater laughing. This movie also showed a strong sense of sisterhood and showed that good people really do overcome bad ones. This movie also showed that anyone has potential and that looks aren’t the best quality in a human being. It singled out the “pretty” girls to be rude and obnoxious while the “ugly” girls had amazing and quirky personalities. I feel that this movie puts out a positive role model for younger girls and it doesn’t follow the typical stereotype for sororities. I can truly say that I enjoyed this movie and was not upset leaving the theater.

Chad S. gave it a5:
Twenty was antediluvian in Menudo years. In the house of "wome-nudo", it's twenty-seven. Beauty and brains, that's the happy medium all women should hanker for, because that's "what boys like". A sensitive "boy" like Oliver(Colin Hanks), who looks after oldsters in a retirement home, prizes scintillating dinner conversation above a gravity-defying rack, right? In "The House Bunny", a homeless bunny imparts her Playboy ideology to some ostracized sorority girls, who in return, help Shelley(Anna Faris) feel better about herself when they point the "dumb blonde" in the direction of the nearest library. Since "The House Bunny" never shows these nerdy girls excelling in the classroom, or anything to compensate for their lack of success with the opposite sex, looking f***able is the only currency that matters. To suggest that Shelly needs a cerebral cortex makeover is disingenuous, at best, in a film that received Hugh Hefner's endorsement. While Natalie(Emma Stone) gets her man by being the best version of herself, Shelly wins Oliver over without ever having to read another book. The fact that Shelley turns down a chance to be a Playboy centerfold is beside the point. She's still hopelessly vapid. No man ever dates a woman for her brains.

Daniel C. gave it a5:
Wait for this one to come out on DVD. There are funny parts, but nothing to rush to the theater for.

Shaun X gave it a9:
Really an 8, but I wanted to temper all the other bad scores. Not really a good movie, but it's really funny, especially if you like Anna Faris' dumb blond humor that she is so good at.

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