Orange County
Synopsis: Rising young stars Colin Hanks and Schuyler Fisk head up an outstanding cast including Jack Black (Shallow Hal), Catherine O' Hara (Home Alone), John Lithgow (3rd Rock From the Sun), Harold Ramis and Lily Tomlin in this outrageous coming-of-age comedy
Shaun Brumder (Hanks) is content to be a bright, talented, but unfocused Souther California surf slacker - until the day he siscovers a novel by acclaimed author Martin Skinner. Inspired, he suddenly realzies his life's ambition: to leave behind mind-numbing Orange County and study creative writing with Skinner at Stanford University. But after being denied enrollement due to an admissions error, Shaun is forced to seek help not only form his girlfriend Ashley (Fisk) but also his hopelessly dysfunctional parents (O'Hara & Lithgow), stoner brother Lance (Black), and a host of hilarious circumstances to make his dream of escaping his hometown nightmare a reality.
Rating: PG-13 for drug content, language and sexuality
Run Time: 82 Minutes
Director: Jake Kasdan
Dvd Extra's: Languages: English & French, English Subtitles, Theatrical Trailer, Commentary by Director Jake Kasdan and Writer Mike White, Deleted Scenes.
Nudity Factor: None
Of Note: Three people involved in the production have famous parents. Colin Hanks is Tom Hanks' son, Schuyler Fisk is Sissy Spacek's daughter and director Jake Kasdan is Lawrence Kasdan's son.
Review by:
Jason James
Rating: 
This is kind of a strange movie. It is not really a comedy, not really a drama, and it certainly is not an action movie. It kind of could be a horror movie only in the fact that Jack Black runs around in his underwear for most of the movie. What this really movie is mostly is just a good story. It is about a kid (played by Tom Hanks son) who wants to get out of the town he lives in and develop as a writer. He feels that the only way to do this is to get accepted to Stanford. In his quest to get into Stanford one mishap after another keeps getting in his way. His mom is drunk, his brother stoned and looking for his urine, his dad does not have the time, and his girlfriend really does not want him to go. I think some of it is I can understand what he is going through. To have a dream that seems reachable yet it continues to allude you. For a lot of us that is when you know you are an adult, when you give up on your dreams and focus on life. There is a line in the movie that describes the main family as doomed to fail but somehow it tends to work out. Sounds a lot like many families and maybe that is why I enjoyed this movie as much as I did. Once again it is just a good story that comes across on the screen well.