Hey folks, Harry here with a movie that is sure to sucker in Piotro Pinkie, that tiny Eastern European Dwarf loves teenage fluff flicks, and there's quite a few in the country that agrees (notice the champion at the box office this weekend, Reese... take your bows) (ahem, even though MADE won the per screen average... ahem) but anyway, here's a new Teen Comedy... Joy.... Thrills.... Yippee! Read up...
Hey Harry
Just got back from a screening of the movie Orange County. I had some high hopes going into the movie as I tend to like these teen comedies such as 10 things I hate about you and Whatever it takes. This is basically how it was described going when the flyer was handed out with Colin Hanks and Leslie Bibb from popular, well I could swear she was on the invite but it was actually the brunette from popular. Well that made me interested never great movies but a little hidden pleasure of mine. Then I actually read the invite and it says from the writer and director of one of my favorite TV shows, no not Dawsons Creek, Freaks and Geeks. I imagine this would get anyone's hopes up for the film.
The film stars Colin Hanks as a senior in high school who because of the death of a friend has a dream to become a writer and wants to go to Stanford. His High school counselor sends out the wrong transcripts with his application and a day of hilarity ensues. While an over simplification of the plot it is not really that far off or have much more depth than that.
The idea that the high school counselor has no clue, spreads across the all of the characters besides Hanks and his girlfriend played by Schuyler Fisk I believe. His mother played by Catherine O'Hara is a drunk in the model of Anna Nicole Smith, left by her husband she marries an old man restricted to a wheelchair, in order to keep her status of living in Orange County. His father, played by John Lithgow is a self absorbed real estate developer who has married a 20 year old sex kitten from the gym, who is continually cheating on him. Jack Black provides comic relief as Hanks' drug addicted brother.
The film left a void in me as I did not care about what happened to any of the characters. The comedy was good, but the setting was not. If the film is to be called Orange County give us an idea of the lifestyle of the area. Growing up near and visiting often, none of the posh, conservative, yuppie lifestyle that OC is famous for comes across. Neither does the rebellious youth angst that has spawned and continues to spawn a trendy music scene and lifestyle. Only two bands from the area that is rich in past and current punk musicians are featured. This could be any town USA.
Maybe I am being too hard on the film, as most of the crowd seemed to be giving it positive remarks on the questionnaire afterwards, but anyways I hope you enjoyed and I didn't give away too much of the film,
Sheepless in Montana
