Like the baby that is born to wealthy and intelligent parents but grows up to live a life of petty crime and a permanent job at the local Starbucks, “Orange County” ignores its heritage and ultimately fails to do anything significant with its film life. It may have come from a mansion, but it settles in a house on Mifflin.
As a film, “Orange County” has an impressive pedigree. Its writer, Mike White, is fresh off last year’s indie smash “Chuck and Buck.” Director Jake Kasdan hails from the loins of screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan, who penned blockbusters like the Star Wars trilogy. The film’s stars were also weaned from the teat of filmic powerhouses. Colin Hanks, son of the Oscar’s Golden Boy, and Schuyler Fisk, daughter of Sissy Spacek, share the screen in this January’s newest addition to the teen comedy bin. Even the generation-spanning comedic supporting cast, with appearances by everyone from Gary Marshall to Harold Ramis to Jack Black, does its best to bring White’s clever script to life. But despite its legacy, the film never fully delivers.
Every bone in Shaun’s (Hanks, “Get Over It”) pale white, surfer body wants to attend Stanford and become a writer. However, because of a transcript mix up, he has as much chance in enrolling as this film has at winning an Oscar. What follows is the typical hijinks of family embarrassments, road trips, and party scenes that fill most teen comedies today.
Yet, there is something subtly different about “Orange County.” So subtle, in fact, that it may take a few viewings for it to hit. Unfortunately, the antics are so blinding, a second trip to “Orange County” is as likely as the film winning an Oscar.
Instead of chiseled, dreamy lead guy and airbrushed super-model girl of his dreams, we get Hanks and Fisks, no slouches in the looks department, but a little more realistic than the Paul Walkers and Shannon Elizabeths. It’s refreshing. Instead of the date-to-the-prom goal, Hanks wants to attend college and be a writer — foolish boy, proms are more fun than a lifetime of financial struggle. Yet it’s admirable. Instead of usual gross-out dumb ass, Tom Green, we get Jack Black, whose improvisations and very screen presence increase the film’s humor tenfold. It’s appreciated.
But this atypical spirit is lost in the wake of the film’s overabundance of weak slapstick. Just as a clever reference, such as the homage to “Ferris Bueller,” or a witty line or an entertaining cameo leaves the screen, the audience is smacked with some lowbrow sight gag, like Black puking or reckless highway driving, that erases all that we were beginning to like.
“Orange County” will likely be marketed as another teen comedy, doomed to a sizeable opening weekend and nothing more. It’s unfortunate, as it does have a little more heart than the norm. But it also has the brainless humor that seems to be issued with every film starring someone under the age of 27. It had the potential for success, but in the end the worthy parts fail to equal an equivalent sum.
Grade: C
