We talked about new Playboy-themed comedy The House Bunny the other day, and now I've seen it. Here's what I thought...
There were times, of course, when I felt a bit feminist watching this. The central premise was suspect. Bunny falls in with a dorky, hard-working girls' sorority house. The house is about to be closed, because no one wants to be associated with the unpopular chicks. It becomes apparent that Bunny is a hit with the boys. But here's the problem, for me. The theory is, Bunny can be used to encourage boys to the house, who, in turn, will somehow encourage girls, who will then sign up to the Sorority and save the house from being closed down. Apart from all the obvious objections, I'm just not sure that girls automatically go where the letchy boys are. Maybe I'm wrong, but it felt a bit contrived, even for a silly film.
Anyway in the end it sort of felt like that line of logic was redundant, because things worked out well (don't let me give the ending away...) not because of boys, but because of sisterhood and girls laughing and learning together.
So on the whole I think this film - which was written by two women, and comes from the same stable as Legally Blonde - was great. It is all about the funny. Of course it's the silliest thing ever, and structurally perfectly formulaic (which is one of the things I really liked about it) but you did have to sit back and just admire the performances, especially Anna Faris, the bunny. It was such a genuinely funny film that it's a shame it had to be such an advert for Playboy.
True, they stylishly side-stepped the porn issue, and there will be those who found the make-overs of the 'individuals' a bit much to take and their later decision to tone their Bunny-makeovers down to make themselves look 'better' but 'more like themselves' a bit heavy-handed or apologetic. Protesting too much. But this film isn't aimed at feminists, or men. And the point, it seems to me, is all about female friendships. Can we forgive them the Playboy stuff and just enjoy that?
