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The House Bunny (2008)

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Top Critics

Average Rating: 5.1/10
Reviews Counted: 123
Fresh: 50 | Rotten: 73

Anna Faris is game, but she can't salvage this middling, formulaic comedy.

Average Rating: 5.3/10
Critic Reviews: 24
Fresh: 9 | Rotten: 15

Anna Faris is game, but she can't salvage this middling, formulaic comedy.

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Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 202,564

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Movie Info

When Playboy playmate Shelley (Anna Faris) is unceremoniously evicted from Hugh Hefner's lavish mansion in order to make room for some younger beauties, her quest for employment finds her serving as den mother to an unpopular L.A. sorority in this Happy Madison production directed by Fred Wolf. Colin Hanks, Rumer Willis, Katharine McPhee, Monet Mazur, and Beverly D'Angelo co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

PG-13, 1 hr. 37 min.

Comedy

Directed By: Fred Wolf

Written By: Karen McCullah Lutz, Kirsten Smith

In Theaters: Aug 22, 2008 Wide

On DVD: Dec 19, 2008

Box Office:$48.2M

Sony Pictures/Columbia

The result isn't very funny, and its sexual politics are as muddled as you'd expect, but Faris is sweet and likable as the sort of wise dumbbell Judy Holliday used to play.

December 17, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader

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J. R. Jones

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

It takes sexism to a new low, and it manages to attack women in the last place on earth where they continue to outperform men -- in universities.

September 26, 2008 Full Review Source: MovieTime, ABC Radio National

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Ruth Hessey

MovieTime, ABC Radio National

Top Critic

[Faris] gives an A performance in the kind of farce from which she's more than ready to graduate.

August 28, 2008 Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly

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Lisa Schwarzbaum

Entertainment Weekly

Top Critic

The House Bunny gets the difference between being openhearted and empty-headed.

August 22, 2008 Full Review Source: Salon.com

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Stephanie Zacharek

Salon.com

Top Critic

Puts a cheerful spin on its many cliches. 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.

August 22, 2008 Full Review Source: New York Times

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Nathan Lee

New York Times

Top Critic

House Bunny's Legally Blonde roots show.

August 22, 2008 Full Review Source: Wall Street Journal

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Joanne Kaufman

Wall Street Journal

Top Critic

...it's hard to deny the effectiveness of Anna Faris' energetically go-for-broke performance...

February 10, 2009 Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews

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David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

Why the film works: Anna. Faris.

January 6, 2009 Full Review Source: TheMovieReport.com

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Michael Dequina

TheMovieReport.com

But Faris has the comedic chops to make us love her character, like the lines, and tolerate the formula.

December 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis

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James Plath

Movie Metropolis

The disc's extras include far too many featurettes (a dozen in total), ten deleted scenes, a music video and a bucket-load of trailers for other movies.

December 14, 2008 Full Review Source: Apollo Guide

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Brian Webster

Apollo Guide

Not funny, not sexy, not even obnoxious enough to get anyone worked up, The House Bunny truly establishes a new low water mark for 2008 cinema.

December 14, 2008 Full Review Source: Apollo Guide

| Comment (1)

Brian Webster

Apollo Guide

The flatness of humor comes from the directing and timing, rather than necessarily the dialogue or actor skill. More than once I thought to myself, "That joke totally could have worked."

November 9, 2008 Full Review Source: Cinerina

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Karina Montgomery

Cinerina

There's a sublimely goofy tone to this profoundly inept film that keeps us smiling from start to finish

October 10, 2008 Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall

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Rich Cline

Shadows on the Wall

With strong comic performances and some good laughs, The House Bunny is fluffy, forgettable fun, but it's no Legally Blonde.

October 10, 2008 Full Review Source: ViewLondon

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Matthew Turner

ViewLondon

This silly comedy has a few decent jokes in its otherwise dim screenplay. However, its parody is as toothless as Hefner probably is by now.

October 10, 2008 Full Review Source: This is London

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Derek Malcolm

This is London

One could be forgiven for thinking that the American college system is merely one big popularity contest. Certainly, no one does anything outrageous like read a book.

October 10, 2008 Full Review Source: Independent

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Anthony Quinn

Independent

It is all so cheesy, The Sneak almost felt like not wanting to be a film critic anymore.

October 10, 2008 Full Review Source: Sun Online

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Sun Online

Every banality is trotted out right on cue, from the makeover montage to the awkward first date, to the usual hoary old moral about being true to yourself, making this one bunny due for the casserole pot.

October 10, 2008 Full Review Source: Daily Mirror [UK]

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David Edwards

Daily Mirror [UK]

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for The House Bunny

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You know i was completely surprised at the giggles I had watching this movie. While not great it was fun in a strange strange way.

May 19, 2009

John Manard

Super Reviewer

Good to see Anna Faris in something else other than a Scary Movie for a change. Although there isn't a great difference in the type of role she plays here. Kicked out of the playboy mansion she decides to become a house mother to a sorority house of misfits, hoping to make them more popular. Nothing original here, but

March 26, 2011

Dean !

Super Reviewer

The House Bunny Quotes

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1. Shelley Darlington: The eyes are the nipples of the face.
– Submitted by Chris W (11 months ago)
1. Shelley Darlington: Instead of the Mahi-Mahi, can I get just the one Mahi, because I'm not that hungry?
– Submitted by Erin Y (11 months ago)
1. Shelley Darlington: Picatta, that's another word I like... picatta sounds like atta.
– Submitted by Jessica R (12 months ago)