Review: The latest lowbrow comedy has its few moments, but it is mostly a wasteful, wearily predictable comedy.

Story: Anna Faris as a former Playboy bunny who winds up the house mother to a college sorority house? Who would have thunk it? When her long-time dream of becoming “Miss November” is shattered, ditzy blonde bombshell Shelley (Faris) strikes out on her own and winds up at the doorstep of the Zeta house, a college sorority of outcasts and misfits whose charter is about to be revoked. Deciding to apply some of the “know-how” she learned as a resident of the Playboy Mansion, Shelley teaches the girls how to dress more provocatively, which (obviously) leads directly to improved self-esteem, while the girls teach Shelley a sense of, er, responsibility, I guess. (That part’s not too clear.) Through sheer spunk and pluck, Shelley turns around the fortunes of the Zeta sorority sisters. But, of course, there’s the nasty rival sorority that doesn’t take kindly to the Zetas’ newfound popularity and will stop at nothing to bring them down. What happens next is a matter of rote – and perhaps rot.

Acting: The appealing Faris is nothing if not enthusiastic, desperately trying to graft some endearing aspects to the one-dimensional role of the bubble-headed Shelley. When that fails, she is basically reduced to playing dumb and parading around in a variety of revealing outfits, some of them quite fetching. There is little doubt that Faris’ abilities are more than skin-deep; too bad The House Bunny is too lazy a film to even try and utilize them. The outcasts in the house do what they can – ranging from Superbad’s Emma Stone (who could be on her way to being a fine comedic actress) to “American Idol’s” Katharine McPhee (eh) to Bruce Willis and Demi Moore’s daughter Rumer (double eh). And in a role that could easily have been excised from the proceedings entirely, Colin Hanks plays Shelley’s resident love interest. For marquee value, there are brief appearances by veterans Beverly D’Angelo (as a snooty, rival house mother) and Christopher McDonald as the college dean. They needn’t have bothered, nor should have Hugh Hefner, playing himself – and none too enthusiastically.

Direction: Fred Wolf made his feature directorial debut with the Adam Sandler/Happy Madison bomb Strange Wilderness (if you don’t remember it, consider yourself lucky). The second time around is certainly no charm, nor is it appreciably better than the earlier film. It’s just as flimsy and irritating, and it serves only to waste an attractive line-up of actors. This feels like discarded gags from Legally Blonde and Revenge of the Nerds, tossed together in a flimsy feature that feels every one of its 97 minutes. This doesn’t play like a bad sitcom; it plays like a bad sitcom pilot. Amidst so many blockbusters this season, The House Bunny is a summer bummer from beginning to end.

Bottom Line: Hollywood.com rated this film 2 stars.

Review: Perhaps it was something in the Spanish water, but Woody Allen has produced his funniest movie in years in the seductively engaging Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

Story: Writer/director Woody Allen travels to Spain for the first time, movie-wise, for a sophisticated bedroom romp about two American girls, Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson), who hit Barcelona for a summer vacation and end up in an unusual encounter with a local painter (Javier Bardem). He seduces them into joining him on a white-knuckle plane trip to his place. There, he tries to bed both separately and together – until his unstable ex-wife Maria Elena (Penelope Cruz) shows up and throws his game plan off. Cristina seems like the more willing of the two, eager to give anything a try, while Vicky, who is engaged to be married, completely resists – that is, until she doesn’t. The unexpected choices made by this group of disparate people suddenly brought together is what keeps Allen’s story edgy and surprising.

Acting: Allen leaves the acting to others this time and gets sterling results with a splendid cast perfectly suited to the sophisticated and very funny rhythms of Woody’s hilarious script. Johansson – clearly Allen’s latest muse after Match Point and Scoop – is slyly amusing as a true free spirit, willing to get in the European swing of things. Hall, daughter of director Peter Hall and quite British in real life, affects a perfect American accent to expertly play a young woman whose inner yearnings keep trying to trump her ordered life. The actress is wonderful in a complex portrait of romantic confusion. Patricia Clarkson, so good in Elegy, also is reliably fine here as a woman caught in an unsatisfying marriage. Reigning Supporting Actor winner, Bardem shows natural comedic abilities as a Spanish Lothario who turns on his considerable charm to conquer two women at once. What he doesn’t see coming is the wrath of his ex-wife Maria Elena and the hold this near psychotically emotional woman still has on him. Cruz is just great in the role, choosing to play her like any number of straight dramatic parts we’ve seen her do and letting the comedy emerge like fine wine. Her lapse into Spanish whenever she is upset (which is pretty much all the time) is vintage Woody. Cruz and Bardem are screen gold together.

Direction: Woody Allen seems to have had his fading career reinvigorated by venturing out of the safe confines of his beloved New York City first to London with Match Point, his brilliant 2004 crime drama and now to Barcelona with Vicky Cristina Barcelona, his funniest film in years. All the themes and style of past efforts are here but in terms of pure laughter, this is his best since the heyday of Annie Hall, Hannah and Her Sisters and Manhattan. One quirky choice he probably could have dropped is the incessant voice of a narrator carrying the story along like a fairy tale. The dialogue and acting are of such quality, we could have done without the constant explanations of what is going on. As usual, Allen works simply and quickly getting the most out of his rich and wry screenplay, a witty dissertation of the left turns our love lives can so easily take.

Bottom Line: Hollywood.com rated this film 3 1/2 stars.