Slashdot Mirror
Review: Orange County
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.
Hahhaa, that was a joke, right? I think the reason Jon does these reviews is because it's his only excuse to goto the movies by himself since god knows that's the only way he's getting there.
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The review of Orange County is a strange review, hard to categorize and, in a way, a joke. At times, (and sparked by the horrible grammar of JonKatz) it's hilarious and challenging. Then it tries to be a derivative of the much better Orange County review done by Roger Ebert, and then a facsimile of every other review JonKatz has even done. As a result, it's a bunch of different rip-offs and clones thrown together. The movie review also has zero significance, at least for SlashDot. JonKatz wrote this mess, and it stars his opinions on Tom Hanks' son Colin, Jack Black, and Sissy Spaceks' daughter Schuyler Fisk. JonKatz looks and acts so much like a retarded monkey sitting in front of a keyboard it's distracting. But don't be fooled by the horrible review -- Orange County is a really funny movie, drawing nearly as much from American Beauty as American Pie. . Spoilage warning: JonKatz discussed, not ending.
l ogical-news nice guy CmdrTaco, who like Jimmy Stewart, has a Jimmy Stewart quality that makes you root for him, even when he's behaving badly.
JonKatz is a brainless hack writer until he stumbles across the Internet, and decides he was to use his brain and become a hack movie-reviewer and soapbox-monkey for a technological Website. He obsesses on SlashDot, doesn't get in because no one there really likes him and, with the help of his perpetually-stoned buddy CmdrTaco and his girlfriend Cowboy Neil, sets out to gain acceptance with SlashDot. Part of his obsession comes from a desire to get away from his hilariously and spectacularly dysfunctional writing career.
JonKatz is now wonderful at writing god awful movie reviews, 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 Website, especially playing against the I-actually-post-information-about-relevant-techno
The point and conceit of a movie review on a technological Website are both strange. SlashDot, a premier source of tech news the world over, is held to be insipid and valueless when it posts rubbish like this. Although we get a peek at the dummies that gave JonKatz a job, there is little feel at all for the point of a badly written movie review {and subsequent badly written parody review}. At least at first, all JonKatz wants to do is make an ass of himself, though I'm sure he's been told on numerous occasions that he would probably fit in better with the people at Ain't It Cool instead of the tech crowd. Hack writers and poor movie reviewers should stay at home where their roots are, all the better to spare the rest of us from this sort of garbage.
JonKatz should probably be fired with a phone call, so all the insults and bad-sort-of-laughter - there's an improbable amount of this - can be redirected. And the ending - well, he'll probably die from old age.
I think for a total of 15 to 20 yoctoseconds this is the most inventive and original review I've seen in a while. It's still pretty disjointed though. It seems as if JonKatz wanted to make a semi-serious, biting review but either chickened out or was held back. Still, there are more than a few great laughs in the review of Orange County and parts of the review that portray a complex look into the mind of a monkey with a keyboard trying to figure out what he should do with it.