My fiancé and I watched two movies over the weekend, Shallow Hal and Orange County. Reading good reviews on Shallow Hal, I was expecting to like it better than Orange County. So I was surprised when Orange County ended up being my favorite of the two. At first, I thought Orange County was just going to be another goofy teen flick with some funny twists. But after we started watching, I was impressed by the extensive cast and deeper than expected plot.

The Story
The movie is about a high school student, Shaun, who was just another surfer, seemingly without a care in the world but surfing with his friends, until a tragic surfing accident claims the life of one of his friends. While sitting on the beach, mourning his friend, he finds a book that he starts to read. The book was so moving for him, after reading it fifty-something times, he decides to give up surfing and aspire to become a writer, just like the author of the book. He learns that the author is at Stanford University and that’s where he must go if he wants to become a good writer and get away from his family.

Over the next year in high school, he gives up surfing and works tirelessly on becoming the perfect student and on his writing skills. He writes a story called Orange County and sends it to his idol author, Marcus Skinner. When the time comes to apply to Stanford, he talks to his ditsy guidance consoler who tells him he’s a shoe-in and not to bother applying to any other schools. When he finally gets the letter from Stanford stating that he has not been accepted, he’s devastated and can’t figure out why. So he goes back to the consoler and finds that the wrong transcripts have been sent, causing the fiasco.

Here starts the main plot of crazy adventures trying to get into Stanford from trying to get money from his rich father to actually going to the school to talk to the director. Through these mis-adventures, we learn how screwed up his whole family is by watching their failed attempts to help him (embarrass him) and things go horribly wrong and funny at the same time. Obviously, this has been done before in many movies, but Orange County’s plot is summed up nicely to a feel good end with character growth and lessons learned.

The Cast
Shaun Brumder – Colin Hanks
Ashley, Shaun’s Girlfriend – Schuyler Fisk
Lance, Shaun’s Brother – Jack Black
Shaun’s Mom – Catherine O’Hara
Shaun’s Dad – John Lithgow
Other bit roles by Kevin Cline, Ben Stiller and Lilly Thomlin

My Opinion
Because I started this movie with low expectations, I was moderately impressed with the plot and the cast. But I did find some of the effects corny and jokes tastelessly cruel, such as the continuos careless gags around Shaun’s wheelchair-bound elderly step-father and his mother getting detailed about her sex life with him. That’s one thing a teenager shouldn’t know about their parents. But, his screwed up family was depicted well and there were some memorable gags that hadn’t been tried before, but some still out of touch with reality. Many of the gags revolved around his crazy, drugged bother, Lance, alcoholic mother, elderly step father, animal loving girlfriend and over driven, rich father.

I never found the movie boring or slow, it moved at a nice pace and was relatively unpredictable. Unlike many of these teen movies, I actually found myself caring about the characters and their problems. I thought the caring, conflicted girlfriend was well played, while the relationship between his parents was a little unrealistic. All in all, I recommend this movie to anyone looking for some laughs that actually lead somewhere. It’s a well-rounded feel good movie.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older