rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 2002
Directed by Jake Kasdan; produced by Scott Aversano, David Gale, Scott Rudin, Van Toffler; written by Mike White
Starring Colin Hanks, Jack Black, Schuyler Fisk, Bret Harrison, Catherine O'Hara, John Lithgow, Mike White, Lily Tomlin, Harold Ramis
Below you will find a temporary review for this film. The real (better, more complete) review will be online very soon.
'Orange County' is one of those bad movies that has its heart on the right
place and therefor you might like it. Well, bad is a very negative word, but
it was not very good. It is about a guy Sean (Colin Hanks) who is a very
good student but never really did something with his life. He lives in
Orange County and one day he finds a book on the beach, written by Marcus
Skinner (Kevin Kline). He is a teacher at Stanford and from the moment Sean
has read Skinner's book (52 times) he wants to be a writer. He sends a
letter and a story of his own to Skinner, and he applies for Stanford.
Things go wrong with his application and he doesn't get in while some very
stupid guy with a name almost like his does get in. Now Sean tries anything
to get in. He gets help from his brother Lance (Jack Black) who is always
stoned or having a hangover and from his girlfriend Ashley (Schuyler Fisk).
His divorced and re-married parents are not a big help to him. His mother
Cindy (Catherine O'Hare, known as the mother from 'Home Alone') is a drunk
and his father Bud (John Lithgow) thinks of nothing but himself.
The movie follows some of the usual ways to get to the ending although there
are some nice surprises, especially with the Jack Black character. He is
funny most of the time on the screen. Slowly you get to know where the movie
is going and we have all seen it (only without Jack Black) but for some
reason we can like it. The you know it will end the way it will, with the
heart on the right place, and you want it to end like that. The actors are
all well cast and may be that is the secret here, the reason you're not
getting bored with these characters and storylines. In the end I realized I
didn't saw a good movie but I enjoyed it: that is a good reason to watch a
movie. Although it is not very good, you might think the same and like as
well.