'The House Bunny' review

Anna Faris in "The House Bunny" (Credit: Melinda Sue Gordon/Sony)

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Playboy bunny Shelley (Anna Faris) sees her centerfold dreams shattered when she’s booted from Hugh Hefner’s mansion the morning after her 27th birthday. In order to avoid living on the streets, she decides to become “house mother” for a local sorority full of unpopular girls. Shelley teaches them how to wear make-up, throw parties and talk to boys, while the girls help her learn stuff (oh the irony!) to attract the interest of smart guy Oliver (Colin Hanks, inheriting the honorary Luke Wilson thankless bland boyfriend role).

Big questions: Do women want to root for a heroine who resembles a life size Barbie? Will men line up for a movie that practically bleeds pink? In other words, does this movie have an audience?

Catch it: A thoroughly unexpected product of Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison production company, “The House Bunny” is a rare female-driven light entertainment that emphasizes comedy over romance. Although it’s not even as strong as this year’s admittedly hit-and-miss “Baby Mama,” it does serve as a solid showcase for the Goldie Hawn-meets-Jennifer Coolidge charm of Faris and makes a convincing argument that her younger co-stars Emma Stone (“Superbad”) and Kat Dennings (“The 40-Year-Old Virgin”) deserve vehicles all their own.

Skip it: If you’d rather avoid the mental image conjured up by Shelley admitting, “One time at the mansion I even let Bob Saget grind on me during a slow dance.”

Bottom line: This unholy mash-up of “Legally Blonde,” “Revenge of the Nerds” and E!’s “The Girls Next Door” wants to wallow in chick flick clichés while also inviting boys to ogle a parade of pretty girls. That makes the script’s “pretty on the inside” theme awfully hard to swallow, but director Fred Wolf (“Strange Wilderness”) knows how to keep things perky and pleasant, smoothing over the rough spots with a predictable pop soundtrack heavy on Pussycat Dolls, Avril Lavigne and Rihanna. The result is fittingly brainless late summer fun that will look just at home on DVD a few months from now.

Bonus: “American Idol” fifth season runner-up Katharine McPhee co-stars as a pregnant sorority sister and tries to prove the whole reality stars in movies thing isn’t just a fad…by singing cover versions of “Like a Virgin” and “I Know What Boys Like.”

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