When the Playboy mansion’s favourite bunny, Shelley, is kicked out of the hottest house in town, she gets lost in the wilderness of Beverly Hills. But when she stumbles into the sorriest sorority, Zeta Alpha Zeta, she finds a home where she can finally put her talents to good use. The race is on to transform the clueless girls and make Zeta the hottest house on campus...

When The House Bunny opened I thought my worst fears had been realised. It seemed to be a film made by old, out of touch, horny men who were trying to peddle glamour modelling to young, naive girls - as though it were a career that was highly desirable.

Anna Faris (playing Shelley) also appeared to have all the acting talent and comedic timing of a fridge. However, once Shelley is kicked out of the Playboy mansion I realised that the way over the top dumb, blonde act was supposed to be exaggerated. And while there's very little in the way of subtle humour, The House Bunny is, as shallow comedies go, pretty amusing.

There is one slight problem though. For a movie that has, as one of its central messages, the fact that everyone is capable of being popular and beautiful, I was a little surprised that two of the Zeta house girls suddenly vanish almost completely once the girls transform into beauties. As Tanya (Kimberly Makkouk) and Carrie Mae (Dana Goodman) don't transform into quite the beautiful swans that the other girls emerge as, they are promptly dropped from any prominent shots, the music video, the DVD menus and the DVD packaging. Shame! Goodman's makeup artist should have been shot. The poor actress looks like a man in drag once she's dolled up. But do an Internet search and you'll find pictures of her attending events looking quite pretty.

Extras include Deleted Scenes (12 min); Featurettes (53 min, 13 sec collection of mini featurettes that go behind the scenes of the movie); I Know What Boys Like (2 min 21 sec music video with introduction (30 sec)); and trailers for other movies.

Colin Hanks (Roswell High, Band of Brothers) makes an appearance as the love interest for Faris's character. And it's refreshing that he doesn't go for her for her Playboy looks.

While The House Bunny is never going to become a classic, or win any awards, there are enough amusing moments to ensure that you'll enjoy the film for it's duration.

7

Pete Boomer