Orange County

Rating:
Summary: Finally, a funny yet well-made teen film!
Review: Having survived stinkers like "Scary Movie" and Scary Movie 2", I rented this tape for my 17 year-old brother in-law. The film was a pleasant suprise and reminded me of the teen movies I was raised on in the 1980s like "Sixteen Candles" and "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." This film ended up being much more intelligent and well-made than the trailers I saw on TV.
Director Jake Kasdan (son of the legendary director Lawrence Kasdan) gently skewers the materialism of suburban Orange County, CA by showing us a parade of kids who drive expensive cars, attend school in a fabulous new campus, and seem obsessed with trendy fashions and behavior. Kasdan also directed some episodes of the TV series "Freaks & Geeks," the best portrayal of HS life ever to be shown on TV, so the guy came to this film with a quality resume under his belt.
"Orange County" deals with Colin Hanks' quest to get into Stanford and become a writer to escape his dreadful family in the burbs. Like most teen movies, most of the adults are buffoons (the film features Chevy Chase...need I say more?), and Hanks' friends are stoked-out surfer stoners who provide worthy comic relief. MTV cult hero Jack Black stars as Hanks' sleazy older brother, and although he plays a much smaller role in this film as the trailer makes you believe, he sets up Hanks for some painfully funny plot twists. He is truly talented and can best be described as Jon Belushi played at 45 rather than 33 RPM. More comedy stars like Kathleen O'Hara, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Kline, Ben Stiller and John Lithgow round out the cast.
The film wasn't a totally realistic portrayal of a suburban kid at 17, but it was funny while still holding on to some depth and substance. A great flick for high schoolers or anyone wanting to relive the trials and triumphs of senior year.

Rating:
Summary: Jack Black makes this movie
Review: My title pretty much sums up what I have to say about "Orange County" -- which I am not sure was a comedy as the laughs were far and few between.
Both Black, as a total wastoid brother of the main character, Shaun, and the small roles by the comedic actors/actresses from the age 40 and up, were genuinely funny.
The story wasn't bad, it just couldn't decide whether it was a comedy or a drama. It's about Shaun Brumder, played by Colin Hanks(Toms' son), and his quest to attend Stanford so he can study with a writer whose book, "Straight Jacket", he discovers while on the beach with his surfer buds.

Not really a bad idea at all. It just wasn't executed as well as it could have been.
Worth watching if you absolutely LOVE Jack Black. He is hysterically funny in this.

Rating:
Summary: Love, School, College...and surfing?
Review: First and foremost, I'm from Huntington Beach, central Orange County, California. I thought this movie was very funny, but somewhat stereotypical to the Southern Californian culture; no, we aren't all surfers, ... cheerleaders (well, at my High School there is) and pot-heads...okay, maybe there are, but that still gives much needed formula for the director's purpose for mocking the Orange County lifestyle. What bugged me the most was how only about 22% of the movie was actually filmed in Orange County, while the rest of it was filmed in either upstate Bakersfield, or Los Angeles. But the story actually lightens up to the style, while riding on the backs of tongue-in-cheek comedy.

Shaun Brunder (Colin Hanks, Tom Hanks' son) once was a stereptypical so-cal surfer at first, merely ditching class and catching waves at the beach. Then, his best friend drowns in a surfing accident (involving some hilarious footage from "The Perfect Storm"). Shaun, depressed after his friend's death, morns on the beach, only to find a copy of "Straight-Jacket", a Psychological novel, buried in the sand. He starts to read it. After a while, he becomes attached to the novel, to a point where he decides his life goal...being a writer. Of course, his background isn't exactly "writers" materal, especially living with a alcholic and emotionally disturbed mother (Catherine O'Hara), his doped-up and drug addict brother (Jack Black, in one of his funniest roles to date) and his rich and anal-retentive divorced father (John Lithgow). His school is a total wasteland of any intelligence, from dirty cheerleaders, to idiotic pot-head friends. Even the teachers are showing no sign of intelligence, especially one funny scene where the Principal (Chevy Chase) and the school committee discuss what they want to have speak for their graudation, in which the principal idiotically blurts out "Hey Dana, didn't you say you have have a cousin that's friends with Britney Spears???". The only person that is influencing Shaun to go to college is his sweet girlfriend, Ashley (Schuyler Fisk, Sissy Spacek's daughter). Shaun decides to go to Stanford, but his dumb guidence counseler (cameoed by the funny Lily Tomlin) sends the wrong transcipt to their campus, ultimately putting the option of going to Stanford out of the question. But, there is a solution...it Shaun can influence the dean of Stanford (Harold Ramis) to look at his "real" transcipt, he might just get in to next year's roll. But this would mean in order to leave Orange County behind in order to pursue his dream.

"Orange County" is nevertheless, little-hearted comedy. Complete with a nice so-cal soundtrack and a good list of cameos (Ben Stiller as a fire-fighter, Kevin Kline as Shaun's idol author, Chevy Chase as the Principal, etc.), "OC" is a great movie...full of stereotypes that you can laugh at with dignity.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome movie.
Review: Orange County isn't just another teen movie. It's more...deep than that. It's funny, that's for sure. The hilarity begins when Shaun Brumbder (Played by Colin Hanks, Tom Hank's son, as I'm sure you know) finds a book written by a professor at Stanford University. He read the book from beginning to end, and becomes inspired and determined to make it into Stanford, where he can study with his awe-inspiring master of writing. Well, his idiot school councler sends the wrong transcript to Stanford, and he is rejected. So, he gets his stoner brother (Played by famous Jack Black) to drive him over to Stanford, where he attempts to convience the school principle to allow him to join Stanford. The rest is history. Overall, this is an extremely good movie (I saw it twice in theatres), and has the best performance ever done by Jack Black.

Rating:
Summary: the new "rushmore"
Review: i thought this movie was great. i laughed the whole way through. colin hanks was excellent. it's short and sweet at an hour and 20 minutes.

Rating:
Summary: What happened in post-production?
Review: I'll add my Jack Black accolades to the pile, and raise two cents. I'm really glad I didn't pay to see this movie in the theater, because JB is the hilariously shining superstar on this DVD - much of it not in the theatrical release of the picture. Anyone spending the time and money to view the DVD should do themself a favor and check out the special features menu. The deleted scenes and trailers (called Interstitials) are all hilarious. Some of the deleted scenes (including snipets from the trailers) are the funniest scenes, and would have made the storyline much better as a whole. The young Hanks does an OK job on his first outing, but JB steals the show (ala High Fidelity). In it's entirety, this could have been an entirely new and fresh kind of teen comedy. The screenwriter has worked on TV's "Freaks and Geeks" and the revolutionary "Pasadena". The movie's young director, Jake Kasden, would do well to revisit the editing room on this one.

Rating:
Summary: Funny, Jack Black is great!
Review: Colin Hanks plays Shaun who's dream is to go Standford to be taught by his favorite writer. He doesn't get in but because his councelar "Lilly Tomlin", mixed up his records with another student. He gets another chance when his girlfriend arranges one of the head masters of Standford to meet with him at his house. His drunk mother, his stoner friends, his crippled step-dad and his weirdo brother ruin everything though by not putting on too good of a show for him and his wife. With help from his brother "Jack Black" and his girlfriend he takes a road trip to Standford to prove he's worthy.

While there they don't get much progress, his brother burns down the college and his girlfriend accidently gives the head master "Harold Ramis" 3 hits of E thinking it's aspirin. Those scenes are really funny but there's a lot more laughs that I don't want to give away. Besides liking it for the laughs, I enjoyed the cast as well. You got Cathline O'Hara "Home Alone" and John Lithgow" "3rd Rock from the Sun" as Shaun's parents, Chevy Chase as a teacher, and cameos by Ben Stiller and Kevin Kline. Like Colin Hanks "Tom's son" performance as well. His role, seems like something John Cusack would of done in the 80s and that's who he reminds me more here than his dad. As he brings the most to a teen movie since..... John Cusack. Jack Black of course is hilarious, he sure is an odd one as he showed at the MTV movie awards and shows here too of course. To think he started out by getting his arm shot off by Bruce Willis in the Jackel and playing this annoying drug dealer in I Still Know What You Did Last Summer.

Rating:
Summary: funniest movie ever
Review: this beats out cold but not by much. jack black is soooo funny and if you have seen this he has good comedic talent. i knew it since high fidelity. this was is best movie. ok shaun has everything including a very hot girlfriend. i loved her. this also has chevy chase in it. he has a smaller charector but he is still the usual funny guy. just rent it if you have a bad day because this is a very funny movie.

Rating:
Summary: Quality Jack Black
Review: Orange County could have been a pretty good movie (for a teenage comedy). The plots, themes, and ambigouity make sense, and normally that's supposed to mean the movie is pretty good. However, the acting is poor, the storylines got really carried away throughout the movie, and Colin Hanks reminds me too much of his father (Tom Hanks).

The one thing that made this movie worth buying was Jack Black. Jack Black was absolutely hilarious, as he is in every movie he's ever been in (The Cable Guy, High Fidelity, Shallow Hal, Saving Silverman, etc.). But take Jack Black away from this movie and the rest of it is a flop. The characters aren't captivating in any way, the storyline is too flawed even for a teenage flick, and Colin Hanks simply is way too much like Tom. It's scary how identical their acting is.

Orange County is a one-star movie, but Jack Black's five-star comedic performance reminded me of John Belushi in Animal House, however I think he was (dare I say?) funnier. Ultimately I give three stars for Orange County.

Rating:
Summary: Not even Jack Black could save this one...
Review: Apparently if you are the son of somebody famous it entitles you to be SOMEONE. This movie features a couple of offsprings of some really good hollywood people (The sons of Tom Hanks and Lawrence Kasdan and the daughter of Sissy Spacek), too bad they don't come even near their parents talent in a bad day. They S-U-C-K, big time. The only high point is Jack Black. He is really cool in this one. If you want to laugh with this movie just watch the trailers, they have every single joke in the movie. Yeah, that's right, that's all the comedy in this movie... well, that and the thought of this really bad newcomers sharing blood with their respective parents.