THE HOUSE BUNNY (Fred Wolf). 92 minutes. Opens Friday (August 22). Rating: NN
The House Bunny is basically just Legally Blonde with an exposed midriff and more pratfalls, so it’s a good thing they’ve cast Anna Faris in the Reese Witherspoon role.
The star of the Scary Movie series gives this typically slapdash Happy Madison production a big jolt of manic glee as a Playboy bunny who moves in with a loser sorority when she’s kicked out of the Mansion and proceeds to make everyone much pinker and perkier.
Faris’s giddy vacuity is nicely balanced by the motormouthed awkwardness of Emma Stone (Superbad, The Rocker) and the prickly sarcasm of Charlie Bartlett’s Kat Dennings. (In a featured role, American Idol’s Katha rine McPhee totally doesn’t embarrass herself as their hugely pregnant sorority sister.)
There’s nothing new here. By the third act, even the movie seems to tire of its predictable story, speeding through the requisite montage of Shelley the Bunny auditing a few college classes and learning to appreciate poetry ? but it’s performed with verve and enthusiasm.
With any luck, Faris can use this as a stepping stone to a starring vehicle that lets her hit more than one note.
