Columbia Pictures

Just in time for back-to-school comes The House Bunny, which won't teach you anything new or useful, but it will prepare you for sorority rush.

Well, its depiction of Greek life isn't all that accurate either, but that's beside the point. The purpose of this late-summer comedy is to serve as a showcase for Anna Faris, star of the Scary Movie franchise, whose sunny disposition and solid comic timing make The House Bunny more enjoyable than it ought to be.

The film's essentially a female remake of Revenge of the Nerds, with a script from Legally Blonde writers Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, so it contains the same type of facetious humor as that 2001 hit. Ms. Faris functions as a descendant from a long line of supposedly dumb blondes (which includes Reese Witherspoon's Elle Woods and extends back to Judy Holliday's Billie Dawn and beyond), but she's so unafraid of going for the big, goofy laugh at her own expense that she makes the familiar role her own.

Columbia Pictures

Anna Faris in the movie "The House Bunny."

Ms. Faris stars as Shelley, a perky Playboy bunny who gets kicked out of Hef's mansion and becomes the house mother for Zeta Alpha Zeta, a sorority of misfits. The Zetas only have seven members, and they need to come up with 30 pledges to avoid being kicked off campus and having the mean-girl Phi Iota Mus take over their house.

And so Shelley, with her itty-bitty outfits, pouf of platinum hair and an endless stream of malapropisms, transforms the wallflowers into Pussycat Dolls, and turns the Zeta house into the place to be. A car wash fundraiser attracts the boys, with Shelley, in a bikini, high heels and pigtails, holding a hose and proclaiming, "We're just washin' cars and bein' sexy!" But soon enough, the girls on campus start showing interest in becoming a Zeta.

Silly? Impossible? Of course. This is a Happy Madison film, after all, although it is refreshing to see Adam Sandler's production company come up with a female-centric comedy for once. (Fred Wolf, who wrote for Mr. Sandler at Saturday Night Live, directs in straightforward, unremarkable fashion.)

Emma Stone (Superbad, The Rocker) continues to establish an engaging presence as the sorority's brainy leader, the Anthony Edwards figure, if you will. Kat Dennings gets some good lines as the resident feminist, who's initially appalled by Shelley's suggestions but eventually gives in when she realizes she likes her newfound attention.

But the importance of being hot and popular can't be the moral here, certainly not in Hollywood, and so Shelley must undergo a makeover of her own, for her brain. Likable Colin Hanks (son of Tom) co-stars as the first nice guy ever to show an interest in Shelley, which discombobulates her even further.

Rumer Willis (daughter of Bruce and Demi) and American Idol runner-up Katharine McPhee don't get much to do as fellow Zeta sisters. Both are constricted, one literally: Ms. Willis' character wears a metal body brace, while Ms. McPhee's has an unexpected pregnancy. Not much comedy gold there.

But there's more on the celebrity cameo front. Matt Leinart and Shaquille O'Neal appear as themselves, partying at the Playboy mansion, with Hugh Hefner and the "Girls Next Door" (Holly Madison, Bridget Marquardt and Kendra Wilkinson) making a few appearances, as well. You know, just to ground the movie in reality.