The sexual differences between men and women could fill several large books. Why we are the way we are is still being studied as scientists and psychologists continue to conjure up theories as to what drives the two sexes. Whatever the reason, it has lead to several entertaining and satirical stories in the past. The social satire of the taboo subject has often created funny, inventive, and even provocative works of art in film, literature, and other creative mediums. And then there’s ‘The House Bunny’, a film that had a chance to create a modern day social satire, but decided to waste all its creative efforts on toilet humor and sex jokes.

Films like this are particularly sad, they have great talent and a great subject matter, but fall victim to the unfortunate curses of bad writing, bad editing, and of course bad directing. The film stars funny lady Anna Faris as Shelley Darlingson, the brainless bombshell bunny who made her living at the Playboy mansion. Unfortunately, she was getting too popular, and so one of the other bunnies forges a note from Mr. Playboy himself, Hugh Hefner. The note tells Shelley to leave the mansion immediately, with no reason why. Shelley’s ears droop as she packs her things and leaves in the original car she came there in, a rusty old station wagon (possibly he funniest character in the movie). Not knowing where to go or what to do, Shelly comes across the sorority house that is need of a house mother. The house is home to the ugliest and most socially awkward girls on campus and is in danger of closing down. Why? Well, “Because not enough boys drop by house.” Just boys? I guess girls at this college don’t have the capacity to make a difference on campus, huh?

Well, Shelly knows how to give boys what they want, so she makes a deal with the girls. As long as she can get boys to come to the mansion, they’ll let her be their house mother. Within a day, Shelly transforms the rotting shack of a sorority into a sexy hot spot, and of course, transforms all the unattractive girls into calendar worthy supermodels. At first the girls see this as a way to spread the word about the good causes they try to do, but slowly get caught up in their own appearance and self-absorbent tendencies. They start to wonder how much glamour should be allowed to rule their lives. That’s a legitimate question, too bad it’s distracted by too many overwhelming plot clichés to get answered. Like the mean girl sorority across the street, filled with the pretty evil girls who will stop at nothing to stop the ever popular bunny. And don’t forget the boyfriend, y’know, the pretty boy that has the hots for Shelly, thus leading to her be clumsy and socially awkward that the boyfriend for some reason will find charming. Near the end, we find out the Mr. Hefner discovered the false letter written to Shelly, and that he wants back home at the mansion to model. Will she return to her modeling career, or will she stay behind and bond with sorority girls? If you don’t know the answer to this one, then chances are you’re gonna love this movie.

Anna Faris is one of those women who has very good delivery and great comedic timing, and to her credit, it looks like she’s trying very hard to make this a good movie. But even her performance can’t save an onslaught of predictability, unfunny dialogue, and uninteresting characters. We’re used to seeing these kind of plots before, usually during Adam Sandler movies (which it turns out his company produced this film). Sometimes we overlook them because the comedic writing is just so good, but the writing and timing for this movie is so poor that we can’t help but just stare at these tedious story arches we’ve seen over and over and pray that it’ll wrap it sooner then later. Even the editing in this movie seems a little off. Comedy’s best friend is timing, and when certain scenes are either edited too quickly or linger on for too long, the joke is often ruined.

So who will like it? Diehard fans of Anna Faris will enjoy seeing her performance, but not much else. My guess is anyone who enjoyed the less successful Adam Sandler movies (Little Nicky, 8 Crazy Nights, ect) might get a few laughs out of this.

Who wouldn’t like it? People looking for smart, clever, satirical humor. Anyone searching for one or all of these elements is in big trouble.

My thoughts? I love Anna Faris, but this is a pretty bad vehicle for her. She doesn’t always pick the best movies, which is a shame because she has great comedic talent. The films she often chooses though are just too raunchy and too simple minded to warrant any kind of laughter. There was a moment in this movie where I had to go to the bathroom. When I returned to the theater, I asked my girlfriend “Have the mean girls come up with an evil scheme yet?” She said no. I then asked “Well has Shelly left due to a misunderstanding that makes her think everybody hates her when really they don’t?” “Not yet” she replied. “Well,” I continued, “Did she make the big dramatic speech that convinces everyone in the room that there’s more to life than just outside appearances?” “Nope” she answered, “Just some really, really unfunny scenes.” “Yeah,” I said, “that’s what I thought.”