Thanks to White, Orange County often is very good, containing more intelligent ideas than previews would lead you to believe.
Orange County (2002)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:120
Fresh:56
Rotten:64
Average Rating:5.2/10
Consensus: Smarter than the average teen movie, but a little on the unmemorable side.
Runtime: 82 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis: ORANGE COUNTY is a teen comedy that, along with goofy lowbrow fun, offers a surprising amount of wit and heart. Colin Hanks (son of Tom Hanks) stars as Shaun, a carefree California surfer dude who... ORANGE COUNTY is a teen comedy that, along with goofy lowbrow fun, offers a surprising amount of wit and heart. Colin Hanks (son of Tom Hanks) stars as Shaun, a carefree California surfer dude who loses a friend to a tsunami. Shaun is contemplating his life when he finds a brilliant novel buried in the sand. He reads it and decides to become a writer himself, and study with the author, who teaches at Stanford. He's eager to leave Orange County, where he lives with his clingy alcoholic mother (Catherine O'Hara) and his burnout brother Lance (a brilliantly debauched Jack Black). When Shaun's guidance counselor (Lily Tomlin) sends the wrong transcript to Stanford, Shaun needs all the help he can get from his seemingly hopeless family to salvage his dream. ORANGE COUNTY was directed by Jake Kasdan (Lawrence Kasdan's son) and written by Mike White (CHUCK & BUCK) who also plays Shaun's illiterate English teacher. Schuyler Fisk (Sissy Spacek's daughter) plays Ashley, Shaun's animal-loving girlfriend, and she and Hanks make an attractive and sympathetic pair. While all kinds of insanity (including hilarious turns by Black, O'Hara, and Harold Ramis) spins around them, the young and dynamic couple remain the soulful center of the film. [More]
Starring: Colin Hanks, Jack Black, Leslie Mann, Schulyer Fisk
Starring: Colin Hanks, Jack Black, Leslie Mann, Schulyer Fisk, Lizzy Caplan, Catherine O'Hara, John Lithgow, Lily Tomlin, Chevy Chase, Harold Ramis, Kevin Kline, Ben Stiller
Director: Jake Kasdan
Director: Jake Kasdan
Screenwriter: Mike White
Producer: Scott Rudin, Van Toffler, David Gale, Herb Gains, Adam Schroeder
Composer: Michael Andrews
Producer: Scott Aversano
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Reviews for Orange County
The essential problem in Orange County is that, having created an unusually vivid set of characters worthy of its strong cast, the film flounders when it comes to giving them something to do.
A kooky, diverting comedy that tempers low-brow slapstick with gentle humour and a few poignant insights.
Just when it seemed there was no other possible way to copy a cat, they prove you wrong.
Young Hanks and Fisk, who vaguely resemble their celebrity parents, bring fresh good looks and an ease in front of the camera to the work.
Not since Tom Cruise in Risky Business has an actor made such a strong impression in his underwear.
Director Jake Kasdan delivers that rare entry in the teen comedy genre: a funny film that's also quite wise.
One of those movies like Ghost World and Legally Blonde where the description can't do justice to the experience.
A disappointment, especially since it features some of the most talented comic actors in the industry -- and they're trying hard to make it funny.
The tertiary characters, like John Lithgow and Catherine O'Hara as Hank's jacked-up folks, give the film its moments. Still, this is hardly higher comedy.
Despite all outward signs to the contrary, the movie is not dreadful, but makes the best of a bad generic situation.
Much like its easily dismissive take on the upscale lifestyle, there isn't much there here.
Not another teen comedy, thank goodness, but a refreshing comedy of the plight of a clean-cut applicant for college.
A potentially good comic premise and excellent cast are terribly wasted.
With all the A-list offspring in the credits of Orange County, it should have been a cut above the usual teen comedy. But it touches the same old bases in the same old dumb ways.
Latest News for Orange County
August 31, 2006:
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Interested in a comedy that takes a no-prisoners, warts-and-all approach to network television production? How about if I told you it came from Jake Kasdan, son of high-quality... More...
December 16, 2005:
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The surprise sleeper hit "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" just barely cracked the century mark at the domestic box office, which is pretty impressive for a movie star-less sex... More...
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