Advertise here.
 |
Title: Orange County
|
| CONSUMER ADVICE |
Parents, the reason behind the PG-13 is the use of a some mild language and a brief sex scene. Recommended for ages 12 and up. |
Inspiration comes in many different forms. Some people see a painting and are inspired to become artists. For some the right song could give them the courage to ask a girl they love out on a date. Or if you're name is Shaun Brumder (Colin Hanks, and yes, he's the son of Tom Hanks) you find inspiration in a book lying in the sand on the beach. This book, written by famous author Marcus Skinner (who does not appear to have an official website according to Google), gives Shaun the inspiration he needs to drop his surfboard and become a famous author. Keep in mind, this jolt of inspiration comes to him after the fact that he grew up in Orange County (a hick town), after the fact that he's been living with his deranged mother, crippled step dad, and doped up brother (Jack Black, who plays the kind of brother you wish were a poster boy for birth control), and AFTER the fact that one of his surfing buddies dies while riding the "Ultimate Wave!"
 |
After showing his counselor a copy of his story "Orange County," Shaun gets a rude surprise when it's discovered that the counselor sent in his story with someone else's school records to Stanford, which is the only school Shaun applied for (kids, may this be a lesson to you to listen to your parents when they tell you to have a back-up school ready). After this bit of information Shaun asks the counselor "What are you stupid?" Yes Shaun, she is stupid. Pretty much everyone in this movie is stupid. They have to be, I suppose, or else the movie wouldn't be funny. Take for example, Shaun's tree hugger for a girlfriend Ashley (Schuyler Fisk), who secretly prayed that Shaun wouldn't get into Stanford. The last thing you want is a girlfriend who can't pray for you properly. When worse comes to worse though, Shaun's brother Lance suggests that the three of them go to Stanford and demand that they let Shaun in.
 |
Thankfully, this is not a road trip movie. It's not even a buddy movie. It's about finding inspiration in the right places, and having to follow your dreams despite the really, really annoying people you have to deal with on a daily basis. Movies about college kids who are stupid and do stupid things normally aren't very good. There are many reasons for this, not the least of which is that these movies are normally about, well...stupid kids that do stupid things. There's only so much stupid you can take before you want to rip someone's heads off. I see stupid people do stupid things in real life. For free. But "Orange County" is more then a movie about stupid people. Well...okay, no it's not. This IS a film about stupid people, it just happens to be a good one! The storyline is over-the-top, the characters do things that no sane person would do in public, and farting is on the menu.
 |
And yet...there is something genuine and sweet about the characters and their relationships with each other. I couldn't for the life of me explain why I liked these people as much as I did, but I found it within a monolog by Kevin Kline near the end of the film. Without spoiling the speech (and maybe the end of the movie), the secret behind this movies appeal is likely that everyone cares for each other. They may have their own odd ways of showing it, but care for each other they do. The friendship is real and the love is real. The movie is also kind towards the characters, not mocking them like most stupid kid movies do, but laughing with the bad deck of cards they are dealt. This movie was made by MTV, which means it was probably an accident that this movie turned out as good as it did.
 |
That said, I must give them credit for this. The movie also inspired me in some silly, non-meaning sense that I decided to write a review for a movie that is five years old. Yes, I guess inspiration truly does come from the strangest of places.
  |
 |
