Orange County has been on my 'to watch' list for a while as the premise sounded interesting; tonight it made it to the top of my list, and my screen.
When the opening credits started and I saw that it was an MTV production my hopes really, really dropped. I've seen so much trash and cheap simple minded junk associated with MTV and I couldn't imagine this movie would be any good, but I decided to give it a chance anyhow... and I'm glad I did. There were a few points in the movie where I thought it might let me down and go the way of an MTV-type production but those moments passed, and were actually worth including in the plot.
What hooked me into it was that the main character, Shaun Brumder, was such a likable and sincere young man surrounded by bumbling and irritating characters who continually (albeit accidentally) thwart his plans to attend the college he dreams of going to. His high school counselor, his parents, his brother, his best friends, each has at least one way that they accidentally pull the rug out from under him.
Colin Hanks who plays Shaun was 22 at the time of the filming but is still young-looking enough to pull off the high school senior role here. All the characters are well played - and it doesn't hurt one bit that Catherine O'Hara, Lily Tomlin, Chevy Chase, and Harold Ramis appear in the film. O'Hara, playing Shaun's inebriated mother, has the largest role of those four SCTV / SNL alumnae and does a great job with it, and her character's drinking is not just there for cheap laughs.
Shaun's buddies Arlo and Chad could have been very annoying as not-too-bright surfer types (Shaun also was a surfer at the start of the film) but even they are likable enough in their modest roles. And his girlfriend Ashley, well-played by Schuyler Fisk, seems a good fit for him in the film and her role is a major one.
I'm trying to not get into the plot of the movie at all so as to not provide any spoilers - but if you've ever known a college senior who is smart, motivated, talented and has goals, then you've known a "Shaun" and you've surely wanted to see them succeed. Shaun Brumder has all those things and more going for him and I couldn't help but actually wonder how he was going to get through the story. If I don't care about the characters, I'll switch off the movie or put away the book but I watched this film straight through and it never felt to me like it was overlong or dragging.
Okay, being an MTV production there's a very small bit of 'drug' humor in the story, but VERY small and rather inconsequential. There was not one joke about anyone's physical anatomy, not one curse word or vulgarity that I can recall nor any nudity; in other words, this movie entertains with good dialogue and situations, not cheap humor worthy of 14 year olds. I'm giving Orange County a 7; there are of course better movies than this one. But that is a very strong 7 and I consider my time having been well-spent watching it. As I said in my title, by the end of the movie, I realized that I liked it, and if I can get to the end of a movie and feel that way about it, it's pretty good. In fact I'll probably watch it again before long and enjoy it all the more.
When the opening credits started and I saw that it was an MTV production my hopes really, really dropped. I've seen so much trash and cheap simple minded junk associated with MTV and I couldn't imagine this movie would be any good, but I decided to give it a chance anyhow... and I'm glad I did. There were a few points in the movie where I thought it might let me down and go the way of an MTV-type production but those moments passed, and were actually worth including in the plot.
What hooked me into it was that the main character, Shaun Brumder, was such a likable and sincere young man surrounded by bumbling and irritating characters who continually (albeit accidentally) thwart his plans to attend the college he dreams of going to. His high school counselor, his parents, his brother, his best friends, each has at least one way that they accidentally pull the rug out from under him.
Colin Hanks who plays Shaun was 22 at the time of the filming but is still young-looking enough to pull off the high school senior role here. All the characters are well played - and it doesn't hurt one bit that Catherine O'Hara, Lily Tomlin, Chevy Chase, and Harold Ramis appear in the film. O'Hara, playing Shaun's inebriated mother, has the largest role of those four SCTV / SNL alumnae and does a great job with it, and her character's drinking is not just there for cheap laughs.
Shaun's buddies Arlo and Chad could have been very annoying as not-too-bright surfer types (Shaun also was a surfer at the start of the film) but even they are likable enough in their modest roles. And his girlfriend Ashley, well-played by Schuyler Fisk, seems a good fit for him in the film and her role is a major one.
I'm trying to not get into the plot of the movie at all so as to not provide any spoilers - but if you've ever known a college senior who is smart, motivated, talented and has goals, then you've known a "Shaun" and you've surely wanted to see them succeed. Shaun Brumder has all those things and more going for him and I couldn't help but actually wonder how he was going to get through the story. If I don't care about the characters, I'll switch off the movie or put away the book but I watched this film straight through and it never felt to me like it was overlong or dragging.
Okay, being an MTV production there's a very small bit of 'drug' humor in the story, but VERY small and rather inconsequential. There was not one joke about anyone's physical anatomy, not one curse word or vulgarity that I can recall nor any nudity; in other words, this movie entertains with good dialogue and situations, not cheap humor worthy of 14 year olds. I'm giving Orange County a 7; there are of course better movies than this one. But that is a very strong 7 and I consider my time having been well-spent watching it. As I said in my title, by the end of the movie, I realized that I liked it, and if I can get to the end of a movie and feel that way about it, it's pretty good. In fact I'll probably watch it again before long and enjoy it all the more.