House Bunny
This is my review of Vicky Christina Barcelona, the new Woody Allen movie that I didn’t see because the showtimes on line were wrong. Instead we saw House Bunny. This is an entirely formulaic movie that is, like a good sitcom, still fun to watch. (A key difference is that a good sitcom is free.) Anna Faris does a great job playing the ditzy bimbo (who is, of course, much deeper than she seems at first, but never loses her innocent charm), Shelley. Shelley lands a gig as the house mother of a misfit sorority with seven members who are on the brink of losing their sorority house. It’s not clear why this particular group of young women want to be in a sorority, but to keep it they need to enlist 30 new members. Shelley does the standard makeover on them, exchanging their gray and black loose-fitting duds with sexy attire designed to draw the attention of college males (who are generally the recipients of good-natured scorn in the movie). Bring the guys, and the girls will follow. There is the sniping evil sorority across the street to wreak havoc with Shelley’s plans. But the predictable story is just a clothesline on which to hang a number of gags and set pieces: Shelley’s comical deep voice she uses to remember names; her attempt at being seductive by being slutty; her attempt at being seductive by being intellectual; and her attempts to dumb down and priss up her den of sorority sisters.