The previews looked good ... but would I have gone on the strength of those alone?
Hard to say, but when my daughter said, "Let's go," I thought, "Why not?" We were both in the mood for something light.
I invited my son along, and his reply, "What? House Bunny?"
Well, the three of us laughed long and hard - excellent script (Karen McCullah Lutz; Kirsten Smith), balanced and genuinely creative.
Anna Faris is comedically brilliant, playing the dumb blond with a whimsical innocence that reveals an accomplished actor. It takes a lot of smarts to play a dummy.
In their pre-makeover guise, Plain Janes for sure - nerds, geeks, super-shy and essentially unpleasant to look at - in danger of losing their sorority house charter for want of pledges. It seems the sorority up the street - rich bitches all - are on the dean's case to cancel Zeta Alpha Zeta's charter so they can acquire the property.
Well, Shelley shows up, looking for a "home."
First an orphan, then a bunny in the Mansion with Huge Heffner (who has a good cameo here), she's perpetually bubbly and optimistic, hoping to be the November centerfold, her ultimate dream.
Through the conniving, however, of another bunny, she's believes Heffner has dismissed her, so off she goes, in the junker she arrived in, with a driver's door so squeeky, that, when opened, it awakens dogs and sets off security alarms. Seeing a sorority house, she thinks of home. One things leads to another, and she becomes Zeta Alpha Zeta's house mother, determined to transform the girls into eye-candy, up the party factor and transform them into a popular sorority, saving the house.
The make-over is fun to watch - and, indeed, all the girls become remarkably attractive, in their own way. This part of the story was handled well, bringing out the beauty of each girl, several of whom were not what I would call "natural beauties." Hats off to the director for choosing a variety of girls of varying looks and body styles.
To make a long story short, the "bunny" learns a few hard lessons along the way - that life isn't all about being eye-candy, sexy and stupid.
The girls, transformed, suddenly see that they've become just like all the other snotty sororities on campus.
Here's where the story takes us to a good place. It's about being our best, balanced, between appearance and character.
Tom Hank's son, Colin Hanks, is terrific portraying a young manager of a nursing home attracted to Shelley, and through him, Shelley learns something more about being a woman.
When they first meet, and she learns that he manages a nursing home, Shelley says convincingly, "It's nice that you provide a place where nurses can live."
One of the laughable moments - when the girls show up at the nursing home as part of their philanthropy (Shelley can't pronounce the word, and it's a laugh every time she tries), the girls, now made-over, set off heart monitor alarms all over the nursing home!
A marvelous young cast, great script - story moved along well - with good editing.
A date flic for sure- plenty of eye-candy for the guys, without being salacious. Yet appealing to women, too - what with sisterhood and secret longings to be beautiful.
Worth seeing?
For sure!
