Rating- * * * * (4/5)
This cleverly written coming of age film received mixed reviews upon release but it deserves a chance to be judged as what it is rather than what people thought it was going to be. It is not a slapstick, screwball comedy as most audiences seemed to predict is was going to be, which led to a certain amount of disappointment from people expecting a crazy, gross out riot of a movie. I suspect most of this expectation comes from the simple fact that Jack Black is billed as co-star of the film. Black is known for his off-the-wall demeanor and over-the-top humor in movies like Saving Silverman, Shallow Hal, and High Fidelity. But Black is actually no more than a minor character in Orange County, a sort of comic relief in an already funny movie. The real stars are Colin Hanks (Tom Hanks’ son) who plays a jaded high school senior aspiring to be writer and trying desperately to get into Stanford and Schuyler Fisk who plays his animal-loving, overly optimistic girlfriend who secretly hopes he doesn’t get in so he can stay with her in Orange County. Both performers do a particularly great job in this film. Hanks reminds me of a young Matthew Broderick in his Ferris Bueller days, and Fisk, although not a traditional Hollywood beauty, has a very attractive quality about her and is mush more charming than most of the hot young actresses out there today. The story is something that a lot of people can identify with, or at least I could anyway. Hanks is disgusted by the shallowness, the lack of ambition, and the complete detachment from reality that all the people around him seem to have. He puts all his hope into getting into Stanford and when his guidance counselor (Lilly Tomlin) sends the wrong transcripts, he goes on a mad rampage to get in at any cost. It seems that all his attempts somehow get screwed up by his family, who are by far the best characters in the film. Catherine O’Hara plays his mother who can’t bear to see her son go off to college. She has married a rich, old man who she rarely even acknowledges and regularly forgets to give him his medication. The brilliant John Lithgow plays his father, a self-interested businessman who has married a 20-year old tart who constantly cheats on him and lets their 4-year old child do whatever he wants. But the most indispensable character of the family is Hanks’ brother played by Jack Black. Black is in his underwear for most of the film and is constantly trying to get various people to give him urine samples so he won’t be arrested by his parole officer. Black causes the most trouble of anyone and creates some of the funniest moments, as when he’s trying to explain to a fireman (Ben Stiller) how the building he was in burned down. The story ranges from crazy to amusing to touching and it never loses its grip on us by going completely out of control. Like all good coming-of-age movies, Orange County has a fair amount of revelations for the main character, and to me these are the best parts of the movie, not because they are funny or over-the-top, but because they are true to life and sincere. Orange County may not be the funniest movie of the year, but it is certainly one of the most entertaining and is definitely worth seeing. I recommend this movie to anyone who has been through high school or to anyone who has ever felt like an outsider. This is a great movie and Hanks and Fisk both have great careers ahead of them.