BEFORE: Back-to-back movies about Playboy bunnies - come on, what would I know about them - and Hugh Hefner carries over from his appearance in "Miss March".
THE PLOT: When Shelly, a Playboy bunny, is tossed out of the mansion, she has nowhere to go until she falls in with the sorority girls from Zeta Alpha Zeta.
AFTER: It's not really fair, because any movie I watch after last night's debacle is going to look like "Citizen Kane" by comparison. So, OK, this is the "Citizen Kane" of centerfold-themed comedies...
I get where they're going with this, the ex-bunny helps out the plain girls and misfits, but by applying the Tao of Playboy to them, is she truly helping them, or just improving their appearance? Today's lesson (apparently) is that nothing's more important than being a pretty girl, and once you are, everything else just sort of falls into place.
Mostly, that is - Shelly is given a love interest, and despite all her talk of "be who you are", she ignores her own advice and tries to be someone she's not to impress a man. And she learns that, like, learning is hard and stuff. Points for stressing the value of education (I guess), but that lesson also goes right out the window when she reverts back to "be who you are". That's OK, pretty girl, don't try to think, you'll only strain something...
It's still mostly low physical comedy, but at least the excrement was kept off screen this time. (or was it...?)
I'm not sure I follow the film's internal logic near the end - the main character can either be a college dorm leader who runs charity events, or she can be Miss November in Playboy? Why can't she be both - or is she just not capable of processing this as an option? Many centerfolds have led productive lives or held down jobs, whether before or after their appearances in the magazine.
Plus, our Miss Bunny is originally described as an "expert on men", at least when compared to the sorority girls. Then when she goes on dates, she turns out to be completely clueless about how to act - well, which is it? Is she an expert on men, or not? Why the discrepancy, and if this man is different from the rest, why not point out HOW?
Starring Anna Faris (last seen in "Observe and Report"), Colin Hanks, Emma Stone (lats seen in "The Rocker"), Katharine McPhee (from "American Idol"), Kat Dennings (last seen in "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist") and Rumer Willis, with cameos from Christopher McDonald (last seen in "Thelma and Louise"), Friend of the Blog Beverly D'Angelo (last seen in "Man Trouble"), Nick Swardson and the "Girls Next Door".
RATING: 6 out of 10 giant tiki-heads.
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