Bunny Hop

Hugh Hefner -- whose acting career stretches back at least as far as playing the manager of a Playboy Club in a 1965 episode of "Burke's Law'' -- has perhaps his most substantial big-screen role yet in "The House Bunny,'' opening tomorrow. He has five scenes in a supporting role as "himself'' -- showing off a wide range of emotions -- in this Anna Faris comedy about an exiled resident of the Playboy Mansion who helps empower a bunch of nerdy sororiety girls she turns into hotties. Earlier this season, Hef had a more traditionally brief cameo as himself in "Iron Man'' opposite Robert Downey Jr., who is set to play Hefner in an upcoming biopic. By the way, it's worth noting that "The House Bunny'' bears more a slight resemblance to another Columbia Pictures comedy from three years ago, "Man of the House,'' which revolved around a Texas Ranger who serves as House Father for a group of sororiety girls. That one starred Tommy Lee Jones, who doubtless used his salary to help finish "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.''