Starring: Colin Hanks, Jack Black
Director: Jake Kasdan
Rated: M15+
AFTER a surfing accident kills his best friend, Shaun Brumder (Colin Hanks) reassesses his goals in life.
He accidentally comes across the work of Marcus Skinner (Kevin Kline) and decides he wants to be a writer. He applies to study with Mr Skinner at Stanford University. He is devastated when his college application is unsuccessful.
Shaun discovers that the school guidance counsellor (Lily Tomlin) sent in the wrong transcript. With Lance (Jack Black), his drug addicted brother, and Cindy (Catherine O’Hara), his adoring girlfriend, at his side he goes to Stanford to plead his case.
Orange County is a slight, teen film that has some very funny moments. The problem is that the humour is not evenly spread throughout the film.
Given the uneven material the acting in this film is uniformly good, with great cameos from John Lithgow, Lily Tomlin, Chevy Chase and Kevin Kline.
The values of Orange County are laudable enough – discovering that the greatest gifts we have are usually right under our noses, and that the best things in life are worth fighting for. So there could be worse ways to while away 82 minutes than having a few laughs as we confirm what many of us know already.
