The House Bunny parents guide

The House Bunny Parent Guide

Overall C-

When Playboy bunny Shelley Darlington (Anna Faris) finds herself thrown out of the Hefner Mansion (Hugh has a cameo in the film), she has to find another home. Offered the role of housemother for a motley assortment of sorority sisters, the flamboyant fluff ball determines to makeover the girls of Zeta Alpha Zeta by teaching them everything she knows.

Release date August 21, 2008

Violence B
Sexual Content C-
Profanity D+
Substance Use B-

Why is The House Bunny rated PG-13? The MPAA rated The House Bunny PG-13 for sex-related humor, partial nudity and brief strong language.

Parent Movie Review

When it comes to home improvements, there’s a big difference between spiffing up the place to make it look better and undergoing major renovations, especially if it is just to impress the neighbors. In The House Bunny, it seems the unfortunately average females at Zeta Alpha Zeta are in need of a complete overhaul in order to make them, not more confident in themselves, but socially acceptable to their peers. And who better to oversee these dramatic transformations than a Playboy Bunny.

All of her life Shelley Darlingson (Anna Faris) has been looking for a family. After being raised in an orphanage, she finally thinks she’s found one at the Playboy Mansion. But when another beauty vying for the title of Miss November has Shelley kicked out of Hugh Hefner’s estate, the blonde bombshell is forced to look for another place to live.

Luckily (or not) for the outcasts at Zeta Alpha Zeta, Shelley lands on their doorstep with a proposal. Offering to be the sorority’s new housemother, she agrees to help the seven losers round up enough new pledges to keep their standing on campus. Walking naked through the house after a shower (audience members see only buttock nudity), Shelley also realizes that, unlike her former roommates, these girls are uncommonly uncomfortable with their own bodies. In addition to the pledge plan, she also decides to perk up the girls’ popularity quotient by giving them each a sexy (look for this word a lot in the script) makeover complete with new hairdos, water-filled bras and skimpy, cleavage-baring outfits.

While Shelley’s itty-bitty clothes and shameless flirting impress the male co-eds on campus, her ditzy behavior and alluring come-ons don’t go over well with the police officer (Dan Patrick) she gives an unsolicited sexual favor to or Oliver (Colin Hanks), the handsome manager of the Senior Citizens center. For the buxom but brainless playmate, it’s a revealing realization.

What’s enlightening to viewers is the fact that nearly every female in this film has to undergo a remodeling job in order to catch a guy. Whether it’s showing more skin or getting more smarts, none of these characters are okay as is. The same, however, doesn’t apply to the men.

Other parental concerns may include the use of a sexual expletive, repeated vulgarities and crass sexual humor. Shelley’s attempt to recreate Marilyn Monroe’s steamy manhole cover pose also results in severe leg burns. As well, nasty exchanges between characters involve bullying, inflicting physical pain and humiliation.

Although these sorority sisters eventually manage to balance Shelley’s suggestions to “skimpify” their attire with their own individual comfort levels, the suggestion still remains that a D-cup is better than an A-grade when it comes to the film’s implied priority of catching a man.

Starring Anna Faris, Colin Hanks, Emma Stone, Kat Dennings, Dana Min Goodman.. Theatrical release August 21, 2008. Updated

The House Bunny
Rating & Content Info

Why is The House Bunny rated PG-13? The House Bunny is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for sex-related humor, partial nudity and brief strong language.

A minimum of material is used to make most of the outfits worn in this movie. Skimpy tops and short shorts are among the clothes donned by the women in this film in order to catch the attention of the male characters. Sexual jokes make up much of the script and center around an unsolicited sexual favor, prostitutes, buttock nudity, the loss of virginity, and awkward advances made by the unpopular college girls. Innuendos include crass references to male and female anatomy, homosexuality, and activities at the Playboy Mansion. The depiction of a pregnant college student, comments about sexual activity and blatant enticements are also played for laughs. Girls punch one another in the chest and a woman aggressively pinches a man’s nipples. One character bites another on the shoulder. Crude slang, vulgarities and profanities (including an extreme sexual expletive) are used. Scenes of drinking at parties and in clubs are also seen. A woman has her legs severely burned by steam.

Page last updated

The House Bunny Parents' Guide

What things are the different characters in this film hiding behind in order to maintain their comfort level? What fears do they learn to overcome?

How would this film play differently if all the gender roles were reversed? (How likely would it be to have an 80-year-old woman in bed with a bevy of muscular young men? What changes would the males have to undergo to impress the females?

What role do sororities and fraternities play in college life? Find out here: http://people.howstuffworks.com/sorority.htm.

Home Video

The most recent home video release of The House Bunny movie is December 22, 2008. Here are some details…

Home Video Notes: The House Bunny

Release Date: 19 December 2008

The House Bunny hops onto DVD and Blu-ray with the following fluff: deleted scenes, a music video by Katharine McPhee (I Know What Boys Like), and behind the scenes featurettes. Fans of the film can now check out The Girls Upstairs, Look Who Dropped By (stars who showed up on-set), Zetas Transformed, House Bunny Style, Colin Hanks: Mr. Nice Guy, Getting Ready for a Party, Anna Faris: House Mom, The Girls of Zeta, Calendar Girls, and House Bunny Memories, along with at look at the onset experiences of first-time actors Tyson Ritter and Katharine McPhee.

 

Related home video titles:

In Sydney White, Amanda Bynes plays a college co-ed forced to move in with a bunch of misfit boys after she is kicked out of her sorority. A tough Texas Ranger is assigned to protect a houseful of campus cheerleaders in the film Man of the House.