'House Bunny' may open doors for Anna Faris
The actress has gotten strong notices for a role she created for herself. She also earned executive producer credit for the film, which was No. 2 at the box office last weekend.
Melinda Sue Gordon / Associated Press
THE WEEKS before Labor Day at movie theaters tend to be a dumping ground for critical duds. But when it opened Friday, "The House Bunny" won surprisingly strong notices for star Anna Faris. Although reviews of the movie were mixed overall, critics singled out Faris' turn as a bubble-headed Playboy bunny, praising her as a worthy heir to such dizzy dames as Carole Lombard and Judy Holliday. And giving audiences a reason to go back to the movies once more before fall.
For Faris, playing dumb has been a smart move. Best known for her recurring role in the "Scary Movie" franchise, Faris has established herself as an expert in the art of blissful ignorance, whether she's playing a vacuous pop star in "Just Friends" or bringing a rare moment of comic relief to "Brokeback Mountain."
Outside of the "Scary Movies," Faris, 31, has usually been relegated to character parts. But with "The House Bunny," she takes center stage as Shelley Darlingson, a Playmate who is booted from the Playboy Mansion for being too old -- 27, or as she's informed, "59 in bunny years." Homeless and with few qualifications beyond the ability to walk in 6-inch heels, Shelley finds a home at Zeta Alpha Zeta, a misfit college sorority on the verge of losing its charter. Charging herself with turning the dowdy Zetas into the hottest girls on campus, Shelley coaches them in the fine art of jiggling and giggling, reminding them that "the eyes are the nipples of the face."
Long confined to supporting roles -- where, as critics often noted, she frequently outshone the stars -- Faris was inspired by the example of comedians such as Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen, her costar in the forthcoming "Observe and Report," who write and develop much of their own material. "The boys have been doing it for so long," Faris says, "it just felt like it was time to take the steering wheel."
So she pushed hard for her first studio lead. "As an actress, it's so easy to be passive in your career, just waiting around for somebody to give you a ring and tell you to show up on set in a week. Or not," she says.
The character of Shelley was Faris' own invention, obliquely inspired by the dearth of roles for middle-aged women. "I thought, we know what happens to actresses in their 40s and 50s," she said. "But what happens when you're a model or a Playboy bunny and you're too old? What skills do you have?"
