Orange County

Orange County is a good movie. Not bad, not neccesarily great, but a good hour and a half of entertainment. It's got charm and sophistication. It's also got two young actors that need to be in more movies: Colin Hanks, son of Tom Hanks, and Schuyler Fisk, Sissy Spacek's daughter. These two young actors have wonderful moments, and they play it straight. Jack Black is zany, and the other comic actors have good cameos: Chevy Chase, Harold Ramis, and an unbilled Kevin Kline as Marcus Skinner. Mike White's script is coming-of-age crossed with teeanage comedy. Also, the director, Jake Kasdan, son of Lawrence Kasdan, is perfect in setting up the story. All in all, after seeing this movie, I felt I had had a good time watching a movie. Go rent it. You won't regret it.

Shaun Brumder (Colin Hanks) is an abnormally bright child. A kid whose schoolwork comes naturally to him and grades were never something to sweat over. But instead of trying to lead an ambitious life, Shaun chooses to spend his days surfing and hanging out with his pals. But when his best friend Lonny is killed in a surfing accident, Shaun contemplates if this direction is the best one to pursue. He later discovers a novel, written by a man named Marcus Skinner, on the beach one day, reads it cover to cover, and loves every minute of it. Upon reading it a dozen more times, and practicing writing similar stories on his own, he realizes that he has a talent for writing and ultimately that's what he wants to become.

Shaun's homelife is a rather strange one. His parents are divorced, with his mother (Catherine O'Hara) being a sensitive, needy woman and his father (John Lithgow) a selfish and unruly cad. Shaun's brother is Lance (Jack Black), a portly stoner who is rarely seen fully clothed. Lance continues to offer advice to Shaun, which he will inherently disregard as rambling with no meaning, yet this isn't one of those stories where the dopey character may actually be smarter than we believe. He's just dumb.

Our hero's dream, however, is to get accepted to Stanford and major in journalism. His girlfriend, the neighborhood activist Ashley (Schuyler Fisk) is all support, but his chances seemingly plummet downward when his guidance counselor sends the wrong transcript to Stanford. Instead of the bright and dedicated student they should receive, the school accepts some ne'er-do-well stoner who applied on a whim.

Orange County follows Shaun as he tries in every which way to get accepted to Stanford and pursue a life of intellect and creativity. One thing that becomes the top priority on his list is escaping the inherently listless and seemingly mundane town of Orange County, where nobody takes anything with an ounce of seriousness and everyone seems to be self-indulgent and careless.

This is a film with a big agenda, a clear heart, but an often misunderstood soul, mainly because its headliner, Jack Black, doesn't deliver the laughs you would expect. Orange County is not an energetic, high-octane romp, but a sweet and endearing character study that is equal parts sly comedy and equal parts dramatic and deep. A scene comes early on in the film where Shaun is wasting away in a class and his teacher is asking the students if they know anyone who would be interested in speaking to the school about personal experiences. Shaun proposes a writer who has just received a high honor, but is quickly one-upped by another classmate who has connections to Brittney Spears. This scene illustrates so discretely and subtly how motivated and turned on we get as a society by popularity and publicity rather than true talent and admiration.

Colin Hanks, an actor still searching for that breakout role, handles the task here beautifully, even with the challenge and notable burden of carrying a lion's weight of a film on his back. He's no idiot. His character rarely misses a beat and is a calming and simple pleasure to endure. So is his brother, despite his slow, uninspiring persona. Orange County has an indescribable beauty and charm to its screenplay, one that offers an experience that is fresh and viable, and definitely unconventional.

Starring: Colin Hanks, Jack Black, Schuyler Fisk, Catherine O'Hara, John Lithgow, and Lily Tomlin. Directed by: Jake Kasdan.

I came home from a hard day of work, and to tell the truth, I needed a melt down. That's maybe the only reason why I enjoyed this movie. Because I seriously had my doubts renting it, but I think that Jack Black is a very funny actor. All I needed was a good laugh and I got it. True, this is one of those "Dude, where's my brain?" movies. Sometimes you just need those though. The people I work with told me that this was a pretty stupid movie, and it is. But I think people shouldn't be in a serious mood for this movie. For an intelligent comedy or a good movie kind of day, no. This is not the movie for you, but if you need a meltdown after a hard day, then by all means give this movie a chance. It's really not that bad, and you get more than a few laughs. But still, if I were Colin Hank's character, I think I still would've wanted to go to Standford. :D 7/10

Orange County is not as funny as American Pie, but that's all right. The movie has its share of ridiculous, over-the-top gags (A dean of admissions high on ecstasy, for example), but it's far more interested in its characters than its jokes, a refreshing change of pace for this type of movie. The material's supported by some very good performances, especially from leads Colin Hanks and Jack Black.

Hanks plays Shaun, a high school senior who desperately wants to escape his horrible upper middle class life in Orange County for literary pursuits under his favorite writer, Marcus Skinner, who is a professor at Stanford University. But his guidance counselor (Lily Tomlin) botches his application, leaving Shaun relying on the assistance of his stoner brother Lance (Black) and his selfish father (John Lithgow).

You have no doubt heard that Colin Hanks is the son of famous acting father Tom. Even if connections got him the job, you cannot deny that he puts in a strong lead performance (Even if it does have some echoes of his dad's likeable everyman persona). Comedy stars like Catherine O'Hara, Chevy Chase, Garry Marshall, all put it nice small pieces, but it is Jack Black who owns most of the funniest moments in the film. His mere presence in a scene can make it funny; often he brings out laughs with a look or a eyebrow twitch.

The film gets a little sappy and formulaic as it heads toward its conclusion; Shaun's reaction when he meets his hero is spot-on, but their conversation about his story feels wrong; and the inevitable ending is what you pretty much expect as soon as that initial rejection letter arrives at Shaun's door. Professor Skinner put it best; "My one complaint - You need an ending."

Orange County needed a stronger, more unusual ending to compliment the offbeat, but very enjoyable vibe the rest of the of the movie gives off. Still, I found myself completely entertained until the end, and left really appreciating the fine writing and acting, and even wishing the movie was a little longer. And that doesn't happen too often.

I feel that I should explain 2 things before I give my opinion of this movie 1) I don't expect much from a MTV production and 2) I went to see this movie just to see Colin Hanks, because of his role as Alex Whitman in Roswell.

I was surprised and impressed with Colin Hanks, and Schuyler Fisk who I had not seen in anything. Both of whom played characters that actually had some depth. They actually wanted to go to college not just get laid or marry someone rich.

I found the movie light and funny, full of great cameos

If you are expecting to see a lot of Jack Black you may be disappointed. He only has a supporting role. But hilariously funny as usual.

I also wish that they had kept Colin's hair off of his face, like in some of the beach scenes. The whole bangs thing just, just…. I just didn't like it.

Worth the rental fee for the cameos, Jack Black, some off color jokes and some of the lines the supporting actors have.

DVD has some great deleted scenes and explains why some of the ads showed things that were not in the movie.