The House Bunny

Without Anna Faris - undoubtedly the best thing in Scary Movies - this would be just another superficial wheeze about the perils of superficiality.

As it is, it's still as predictable as Page Three of The Sun but confirms Faris as the 21st century successor to classic screwball blondes like Jean Harlow, Carole Lombard and Judy Holliday.

Ironically, if you can put faces to any of these names you’re definitely too old to appreciate this little number from Sandler’s Happy Madison outfit; a scantily-clad Legally Blonde from the writers of, er, Legally Blonde.

With a bust measurement well in advance of her IQ, Faris’s Shelley is a Bollinger-bubbly centrefold-in-waiting at Hugh Hefner's adult neverland.

But after celebrating her birthday with Hef and the other girls of the Playboy Mansion, Shelley receives a note telling her to clear out.

With no reason given, she can only assume it’s her age. “I’m only 27!” she laments. “That’s 59 in bunny years”, comes the sobering reply.

So while the plot has been used more times than a teenager’s copy of Playboy, the script is sometimes smarter than it looks. Take the name of the run-down sorority of which destitute - that's destitute - Shelley begs to take charge.

Zeta Alpha Zeta is literally the last and least place any self-respecting student wants to end up at, its seven occupants a guy-repelling female freakshow.

And unless Zeta gets thirty new pledges, it will be closed forever. Luckily, there's as much to Shelley as meets the eye. Her talent for partying and makeovers (sample philosophy: "The eyes are the nipples of the face") soon transforms Zeta into the hottest property on campus.

But will her girlish charms work on nice care home manager/romantic afterthought Colin Hanks? Will the mean girls at the sorority next door give up without a fight? Is Hef really that shallow? Who wants to see Shelley in hot-pants again?

Talk about no-brainers. The question of why Bruce and Demi’s daughter Rumer Willis is made to act in a ridiculous body brace is slightly trickier. It turns out to be an inside gag involving Colin’s dad, though whether it was worth the effort is moot.

Whatever, the fearlessly bimbotic Faris provides enough giggles and jiggles to keep most 14-year-old lads happy.

To save embarrassment, their dads are advised to flick through when no one else is around.

Elliott Noble