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MOVIE REVIEW

Orange County

MPA Rating: PG-13-Rating (MPA) for drug content, language and sexuality.

Reviewed by: Douglas Downs
CONTRIBUTOR

Moral Rating: Very Offensive
Moviemaking Quality:
Primary Audience: Teens
Genre: Comedy
Length: 1 hr. 23 min.
Year of Release: 2002
USA Release:
Colin Hanks in “Orange County”
Featuring Colin Hanks, Jack Black, Catherine O'Hara, Leslie Mann, Schuyler Fisk
Director Jake Kasdan
Producer Scott Aversano, David Gale, Herb Gains, Van Toffler, Scott Rudin
Distributor
Distributor: Paramount Pictures Corporation. Trademark logo.
Paramount Pictures Corporation
, a subsidiary of ViacomCBS

In many ways MTV has become synonymous with distastefulness. “Orange County” is no exception. Instead of offering a crisp “fresh-squeezed” taste, this film is straight from the generic frozen concentrate littered with offensive material. Jake Kasdan (son of director Lawrence Kasdan of “The Big Chill” and “The Accidental Tourist”), managed to squeeze plenty of foul language, sex, drug and alcohol abuse, and strong homosexual themes into one very disappointing beginning to 2002. Not even the excellent gene-pool of talent, nor the strong cast of extras (including the 2001 champion of the G-rated box office Garry Marshall) can help this flic take on a different view. Perhaps Colin Hanks, son of Tom, is following on in the early path his father took with his first films like “Bachelor Party”.

“Orange County” is about a high school senior named Shaun Brumder (Colin Hanks). Shaun wants to go to Stanford, but due to a series of unfortunate mistakes, he is rejected. Viewers follow his wacky odyssey to convince Stanford the truth of his academic ability and, ultimately, to grant him entrance into the prestigious university. Meeting rejection, Shaun sees his dream of becoming a great author fading. His desire to meet his favorite author, Stanford Professor Markus Skinner, seems completely out of reach. His girlfriend (Schuyler Fisk, daughter of Sissy Spacek) wants to see Shaun succeed, but she wants him to attend a local school with her. But staying at home is not what Shaun has in mind, and so Shaun’s underachieving older brother (played by Jack Black) offers to drive him to Stanford to plead his case and correct any misunderstandings.

Shaun’s entire family is dysfunctional: his mother is a self-centered alcoholic (played by Catherine O'Hara); his father (John Lithgow) left home to marry a 20-year-old; his older brother hides drugs in aspirin bottles; and Shaun’s stepfather is disabled and on medication. Can we blame him for wanting to get out of his present situation and work toward a successful life? But just as Shaun wants desperately to get into Stanford, I found myself desperately wanting to fast-forward to the rolling credits.

Lily Tomlin, Chevy Chase, Ben Stiller, and Kevin Kline all provide interesting cameos. Too bad it just didn’t add much weight to “Orange County”. Not even an extremely sappy ending can save this one.

My strong recommendation is to skip this film. Parents of the intended teen audience, I urge you to discourage your child from seeing this loser.

That’s not to say that everything in this film is bad: at least Colin Hanks is quite impressive in his acting ability. His natural talent is obvious. I hope that he will soon be given the chance to try roles that are not scripted with cover-to-cover offensive material.


Viewer CommentsSend your comments
Neutral—I saw Orange County, expecting a pointless movie with a couple of laughs. That’s what I got. Everyone around Shaun Brumder (Colin Hanks, Tom’s son) is either drunk, on drugs, or high. I don’t recommend this for anyone under the age of 14. They mention stuff like sex, and at one point they do one of those move the camera. You don’t hear anything, but you know it’s happening. The scene quickly exits. It was funny, but I’m not sure anyone over the age of 30 would agree. I only discourage it to people who get turned off by the above, or young people.
My Ratings: [Average / 4½]
Blake Wolf, age 14
Movie Critics
…revealing attire… one man is seen in his underwear… couples are seen making out (including two women, as well as the beginnings of what appears will be a threesome)…some indications that two high school friends are really gay…
ScreenIt!
…1 F-word… 4 scatological terms, 6 anatomical terms (one in subtitles), 10 sexual references, 4 homosexual references, 5 mild obscenities, 9 religious profanities [or] exclamations…
Kids in Mind