In her woeful wanderings, she happens upon the sorority girls from Zeta Alpha Zeta. Unless they can sign a new pledge class during rush week, the seven socially clueless women will lose their house to the crafty girls of Phi Lota Mu. In order to accomplish their goal, they need Shelley to be their new housemother and teach them how to look good and to “get” men. In the end, Shelley’s assistance, culled from her experiences as a Playboy Bunny, enables the girls to get enough pledges to help their sorority house stay open. It would have been easy to turn this movie into cruel mockery of women for 97 minutes.
Cast
That’s when Shelley with her all-pink wardrobe, luscious blonde hair, and bubbly personality decides what she needs to do. She needs to become the Zetas house mom and save these girls from themselves. One of the reasons that Revenge of the Nerds is such a classic college comedy is that the guys don't change. In this case, the nerdy girls have to dramatically alter their appearance -- courtesy of ridiculously short skirts, three layers of makeup, and water-filled push-up bras -- to catch a guy's attention or appeal to potential pledges.
Mean Girls
Owen Wilson or Seth Rogen does something wacky while a disapproving nag of a girlfriend — probably played by an actress who deserves better like Anne Hathaway or Rachel McAdams — frowns in the corner. But there’s one 2008 comedy that deserves far more than its rude 43 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The House Bunny is a funny and genuinely heartfelt examination of sisterhood, and in honor of Anna Faris’ birthday it deserves a re-evaluation. Phi Iota Mu intercepts the invitations and prevents them from being mailed out, so the Zetas are again in danger of being shut down at the campus meeting of the Panhellenic Council. Oliver and Shelley reconcile, and Shelley explains that she likes Oliver a lot and was trying too hard to impress him. They decide to start over with their relationship and Oliver is looking forward to getting to know the "real" Shelley.
Media
All of these pink-lined makeovers help these women find themselves rather than mask them, much like a raunchier version of Legally Blonde. Directed by Fred Wolf and written by Kirsten Smith and Karen McCullah Lutz, you probably remember The House Bunny as the Playboy sorority movie. After getting kicked out of the Playboy mansion for being too old at the ripe age of 27, Shelley (Anna Faris) has to find a new place to live. Through a series of misunderstandings and parade of college girls, Shelley finds herself on the doorstep of Zeta Alpha Zeta house, the lowest-ranked sorority on campus that’s in danger of having its charter pulled. The only thing that can save Zeta and the home these misfit young women love is if the sorority recruits 30 new members.
The actress talks about taking on this very different role, working with Woody Harrelson, Thor and more. The original cast from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs will also return, including Bill Hader, Anna Faris, and Andy Samberg. Legally Blonde writers Kirsten Smith and Karen McCullah are writing a new version of the 1992 comedy hit Sister Act with the producer of Cinderella.
Broad comedies aren’t great to women, especially college-aged women, historically. But though The House Bunny was happy to deliver predictable jokes about dumb blondes, manipulative women, and of course Playboy bunnies it always had heart underneath those cheap laughs. The House Bunny isn’t a story about a group of women transforming into Stepford sorority girls, though that certainly does happen in its first act. It’s about these young adults learning to recognize and ultimately embrace something they cannot achieve on their own — their own brand of femininity and sexuality. By the end of the film each of these young women finds her own middle ground, somewhere between Shelley’s push-up bra creation and their own individuality.
THE HOUSE BUNNY is just another tool being used by the Playboy franchise to promote the immorality of the Sexual Revolution, as a means of finding personal fulfillment and discovering the “beautiful you” on the inside. Although the filmmakers attempt to add values in the last few minutes, they fail to make up for the pervasive sexual messages in the rest of it. Also, the movie suffers from a poorly written script and the acting is not believable.
How Brandon Potter Relates to His Character on THE CHOSEN
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. Shelley, played by Anna Faris, is living a carefree “fairy-tale” life until a rival Bunny gets her tossed out of the Playboy Mansion.
The House Bunny
It is only through him that we each discover the person He created us to be. THE HOUSE BUNNY tells the story of Shelley Darlingson, a Playboy Bunny who teaches a bunch of social misfits how to be pretty on the outside, attract the opposite sex and thereby save their failing sorority house. The House Bunny has always been a more complicated film than we give it credit for, especially when held under 2018’s lens. Its blatant sexualization and “boys will be boys” attitude toward the male-driven institutions of power are so pronounced, they cross into satire. But even in the movie’s darkest moments, it’s Shelley’s endearing embrace of sisterhood that stands out. The House Bunny is far from a perfect movie, but it deserves way more than the eye roll we’ve given it.
More than any other actress, Faris is an expert at playing funny, wide-eyed, and clueless princesses, but The House Bunny capitalizes on her grittier side as well. Often Faris will breathlessly misunderstanding an innuendo before deftly pulling a comedic 180, growling, cursing, and pratfalling in increasingly more ridiculous ways. It’s both sides of Faris’ lovely, vulgar brand of comedy wrapped up in one tube top-wearing role. More comedies need to take a page out of Shelley’s weird and pink diamond encrusted notebook. Shelley isn’t a genius by anyone’s standards, but she understands people and always remains optimistic and supportive throughout the lowest moments in her privileged life. Much like the sisters of Zeta Alpha Zeta themselves, she exudes sisterhood.
Kiely Williams — At the time of “The House Bunny,” Kiely Williams was well known for her singing abilities, both in 3LW and The Cheetah Girls. She largely retired from acting in 2013, but maintains a close friendship with her fellow Cheetah Girl, Sabrina Bryan. Rumer Willis — The daughter of Demi Moore and Bruce Willis, Rumer Willis played Joanne in “The House Bunny.” Her character fractured her spine but, when it healed, was too afraid to take off her back brace. Willis starred in 2020’s hit “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” and is currently expecting her first child.
Tyson Ritter — Emma Stone felt for Tyson Ritter in “The House Bunny,” marking the singer’s first acting role not playing himself or in a music video. Katharine McPhee — Katharine McPhee’s “House Bunny” character was exactly the shining beacon of practicing safe sex, but she was a delight. She made her Broadway debut in 2018’s “Waitress.” In 2023, McPhee is married to David Foster, and the pair sings together. They wrapped up 2022 by performing at Disney’s Christmas special in Walt Disney World. Miles Teller stars in this comedy about a 21st birthday that gets wildly out of control the night before the birthday boy's big job interview. A modern re-telling of "Snow White" and sort of a response to "Sydney White", a story of a psuedo-princess cast out and taken in by 7 societal misfits.
Not only does the movie suffer from a poorly written script lacking ingenuity and sincere character development, but the acting falls flat and leaves much to be desired from these up and coming young Hollywood stars. THE HOUSE BUNNY is just another tool being used by the Playboy franchise to promote sexuality as a means of discovering the “beautiful you” on the inside, otherwise called the Sexual Revolution. The surface content alone is enough to warrant caution without even mentioning the pervasive sexual messages or the poor production quality. The film released in 2008 and, you might remember, had a pretty stacked cast. So, let’s look back on where they’re at these days, after their time in the Zeta house.
It's sad that two decades after Gilbert, Lewis, and Booger proved that nerds are cool, these girls have to resort to objectifying stereotypes to save their sorority. The House Bunny is a 2008 American comedy film directed by Fred Wolf, written by the writing team of Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, and produced by Adam Sandler, Jack Giarraputo, Anna Faris, Allen Covert, and Heather Parry. The film stars Faris, Colin Hanks, and Emma Stone, and tells the story of a former Playboy bunny who signs up to be the "house mother" of an unpopular university sorority after finding out she must leave the Playboy Mansion.
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on December 19, 2008.[16] It was also released in a 6-movie collection called The Laugh Out Loud Collection with other Happy Madison films in 2013. The Zetas then feel guilty and decide to give themselves a second makeover, this time being "Half-Shelley and Half-Themselves". They also decide to draw the pledges out at random instead of judging them for their looks and popularity. They show up at Shelley's photo shoot and ask for her to come back, to which she agrees, having changed her mind about her dream of being a centerfold. Having gotten a makeover and lessons on how to attract guys and be popular, the Zetas throw a party, which is a huge success.
Even more unsettling was the cheering of the male audience members as the ending credits started to role. Hugh Hefner — Obviously, it’s impossible to make a movie about a Playboy bunny — even a fictional one — without Hugh Hefner. Beverly D’Angelo — Every movie needs a villain, and in “The House Bunny,” that was Beverly D’Angelo. D’Angelo most recently starred alongside David Harbour in “Violent Night,” the surprise Christmas hit of 2022.
