Anna Farris from Saturday Night Live is The House Bunny new this week a the box office. If the theater from this afternoon is any indication, this will be a big box office smash. House Bunny also stars Rumor Willis, Kat Dennings, Katharine McPhee and Colin Hanks.
Let's look at HB from a couple of different angles. Hollywood has been making "dumb blonde" movies for decades. Marilyn Monroe, to Goldie Hawn, to Reece Witherspoon and now to Anna Farris. There has to be a reason for this......they work. For some reason the masses are still not offended, and actually cheer for the smart actress who is willing to look silly on celluloid so the rest of us can laugh. It's a long standing Hollywood tradition.
Anna Farris is "Shelly." She is a Playboy Bunny tossed out of her comfy digs at Hugh Hefner's mansion because she is too old at 27! She then goes on to become the house mother at a college sorority to a bunch of geeky, egghead girls who are in danger of losing their charter because no new girls want to pledge. Shelly saves the day, but you probably new that already.
HB tries real hard to be real funny, but it's really not. BUT Anna Farris IS! Many scenes designed for big laughs fall short, and the writing here is not genius by any stretch of the imagination. BUT Anna Farris is very funny at times with limited resources at her disposal. Like most SNL grads to movies, less is more as a rule. And that will be the case here.
Anna Farris in roles to come will work with better directors and actors on better projects, and in smaller roles, and she will be lauded. I want to clear something up here though. Anna Farris is not a great actress, but she is funny with the willingness to look silly on camera. I always find that endearing, and I respect women who are willing to do it. -(Ala Julia Louis Dreyfuss on Seinfeld or Fran Drescher on the Nanny. Great actresses-no...but funny ladies yes!) HB is required work for Farris to get to another level, and I hope that is the road she takes. In a smart picture, with better surroundings she would be really funny. Nice job here Anna, funny stuff.
HB super serves it's target audience. This flick zero's in on young women and they will love it. The trailer for this movie packages it real well, and those parts are funny but overall HB falls a bit short for the masses. A girls night out to be sure, have fun. Overall I'm good with HB. Problems yes, but I always like watching young funny ladies become funny. I think many better things could be ahead for Anna Farris, and I look forward to that day.
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