Review: Orange County

Orange County is a strange movie, hard to categorize and, in a way, a tease. At times, (and sparked by the over-the-top Jack Black) it's hilarious and challenging. Then it tries to be a derivative teen movie, then a social satire on family, identity and college snobbery. As a result, it's a bunch of different kinds of movies thrown together. The movie also has generational significance, at least for Hollywood. It's directed by Lawrence Kasdan's kid Jake, and stars Tom Hanks' son Colin (Shaun Brumder) and Sissy Spaceks' daughter Schuyler Fisk (Ashley). Hanks looks and acts so much like his father it's distracting. But don't be fooled by the trailers -- Orange County is an ambitious movie, drawing nearly as much from American Beauty as from Clueless. Spoilage warning: plot discussed, not ending.

Shaun is a brainless Orange County surfing dude until he stumbles across a novel and decides he was to use his brain and become a writer. He obsesses on Stanford, doesn't get in because of a paperwork screw-up by his moonie guidance counselor (Lily Tomlin) and, with the help of his perpetually-stoned brother (Black) and girlfriend (Fisk), sets out to gain admission to Stanford. Part of his obsession comes from a desire to get away from his hilariously and spectacularly dysfunctional family (drunken drama queen mother is played by Catherine O'Hara, remote divorced money-obsessed dad by John Lithgow).

Black is by now wonderful at playing the stoned loony, but he needs to be careful, as it's already nearly impossible to imagine him in any other role. And he's great at it. He nearly steals the movie, especially playing against the steady-as-she-goes nice guy Colin Hanks who, like his Dad, has a Jimmy Stewart quality that makes you root for him, even when he's behaving badly.

The plotting and conceit of the movie are both strange. Orange County, a wealthy suburb of LA, is held to be insipid and valueless. Although we get a peek at the dummies who Shaun befriends and who go to his high school, there is little feel at all for the actual place, one of America's early, mythic suburbs. At least at first, all Shaun wants to do is get away, though the writers eventually suggest that wanting to leave arid suburbs and go to colleges like Stanford is a mistake. Creative and interesting people should stay at home where their roots are, all the better to be inspired and keep their needy parents and girlfriends happy.

Shaun's paperwork snafu could probably have been corrected with a phone call, so all the slapstick racing around -- there's an improbably mad dash up to Stanford -- and hysteria seems a bit silly. And the ending -- well, it's original, but also goofy. It lost me.

I think for a total of 15 to 20 minutes this is one of the most inventive and original movies I've seen in awhile. In toto, it's disjointed. It seems as if Kasdan wanted to make a semi-serious, biting movie but either chickened out or was held back. Still, there are more than a few great laughs in Orange County and the parts of the film that portray a complex kid trying to figure out where he belongs while coming to terms with his insane family really work -- at moments.

Comments

I also saw it....

[frostgiant]

I also saw the movie. It looked incredibly stupid in the previews but I was surprised by its quality. It's not a Lord of the Rings or A Beautiful Mind, but it is a decent flick. And you get to see Tom Hanks's clone.

Re:I also saw it....

[Boulder Geek]

I thought Colin Hanks looked like a cross between Tom Hanks and Rowan Atkinson, but maybe that's just me ;-)

Re:junis's review??

[Anonymous Coward]

He hasn't seen it yet.
He's preparing for the next Linux Developers Conference being held in Kandahar

Re:News for nerds? Can a STORY be modded Offtopic?

[Anonymous Coward]

Wait, you:
a) claim to have a social life but;
b) use Slashdot for movie reviews?

I wonder if ESPN will cover movies soon, too. Or if /. wants some of my baseball articles.

Hmmm...

[Anonymous Coward]

"I think for a total of 15 to 20 minutes this is one of the most inventive and original movies I've seen in awhile. In toto, it's disjointed."

I'd imagine it would be hard to watch it in a dog, even if it was toto.

Re:When I saw the prewiews

[fat_mike]

"you don't need collage to rock"

I thinc you need forth grade agan to lurn how to spel.

Katz Theory

[Anonymous Coward]

Is it possible that Katz is just a construct, sent back from the future by MS to distract the /. crowd from attacking Windows with all possible strength?

Suburb?

[chrismcc@netus.com]

>Orange County, a wealthy suburb of LA, um....

Orange County is a ... county, NOT a suburb.

There is the City of Los Angeles, and there is the County of Los Angeles.

Orange County is next to the County of Los Angeles, but it is NOT a suburb of the City of Los Angeles.

I live in Orange County and it takes me an hour and a half to get to LA...

Oh, did I mention that Orange County is NOT a suburb of the City of Los Angeles.

Tell ya why it's on this site..

[Anonymous Coward]

Because he's a part of this site. If all you jokers want to start up your own geek site and keep your stories all 100% Linux based/MS Bashing go for it.. Start your own damn site. I come to read everything that revolves around my "geek" life, and this INCLUDES almost 99.9% of the movies Katz has reviewed on here. I dont agree with him a whole hell of a lot, but at least he's consistant to my "nerd" life, and probably (gee, look how many people come here!) more lives. So piss off you tossers. Go start your own nerd site and leave this one alone..