The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015. Remaining movies: 174 Days to go: 175
Movie #203: Orange County
Before there was a show called The O.C., there was a movie called Orange County, and while I never watched the former, I can still say with confidence that I prefer the latter. (I don’t like it enough that I ever would’ve bought it of my own volition, mind you, but I liked it before I met my husband and saw he owned it. It’s a decent flick.)
The success of the movie rests on the charm and abilities of one Colin Hanks (as Shaun Brumder), early in his career, and he doesn’t disappoint. He’s harried and charming, the sole sane person in his family, in his school, in his entire hometown. All he wants to do is get away. He wants to go to Stanford and study to be a writer under the tutelage of his idol Marcus Skinner (Kevin Kline). When his harebrained college counselor Mrs. Cobb (Lily Tomlin) sends the wrong transcript in, though, he gets rejected. So he and his girlfriend Ashley (Schuyler Fisk) look for a way to fix things.
Unfortunately, Shaun’s family is not helping matters. His divorced parents (the fabulous Catherine O’Hara and the almost-as-fabulous John Lithgow) are selfish and self-centered — mom’s a drunk who doesn’t want him to go so far away, dad’s a materialistic guy in full mid-life crisis who doesn’t want him to become a poor writer, both are more concerned with their own dramas than Shaun’s. And Shaun’s brother Lance (Jack Black) is a drugged-out wastrel looking as gross as Jack Black ever has, which says an awful lot, who ruins everything he comes near with urine or pills or fire. Even Shaun’s friends are surf-obsessed stoners who get in the way more than they help.
The obstacles and goal are somewhat trite and clichéd, but underneath there’s a sweet story here about how you don’t need to escape your family or your home in order to grow into something great — that your family, as crazy and complicated as they may be, can make you great, can make you who you are. It says a lot for being able to find your own way, and build your own successes naturally out of who you are rather than out of an idea of who you should be. Honestly, I could’ve used that kind of guidance and affirmation in my own adolescence. I certainly stumbled in trying to make my way and find my voice a lot more than Shaun did.
Viable Option 