Father Geek here. I was watching the meteor shower over Austin, Texas last night when a flaming ember fell out of the sky right into Geek Headquarter's parklike compound landing at my feet between the headquarters building and our new screening room/research center/archives building. It glowed white hot throughout the night. My mind raced, what was this strange visitor from across the galaxy? I stayed up all night keeping watch. Would it sprout furry green hair? Would it crack open releasing a blob like creature to menace central Texas? Would it begin to unscrew as three legged machines arose from it's interior to cover Austin in a cloud of poisonious black gas? Or, would it begin to grow, rising into a towering crystal that would fall crushing our buildings, breaking into fragments, each of which would start the cycle all over again until the entire state became a desolate field of deadly monolith monsters? When it finally cooled to the touch only a few minutes ago I discovered it was indeed only a small space projectile of the type used by ace AICN scientist/spy Copernicus to file his reports from his mountaintop observatory high in the western clouds. This made ol' Father Geek jump for joy, for you see Copernicus, once a regular at Geek Headquarter's outdoor screenings, has not been heard from for months. Here's his view of ORANGE COUNTY...
A little old school spy action coming at ya. Oh yes, Agent Copernicus lives! Though circumstances have forced me to travel far from the promised land of Austin, every now and then I manage to make my way into a screening just to make sure that the ol spy skills don't get too rusty. In this age of industry shills masquerading as spies, I figure all of us old time operatives have to file a report every now and then to keep up our street cred.
This evening I infiltrated a screening of ORANGE COUNTY. It is directed by Jake Kasdan. Yes he is the son of Lawrence Kasdan. It stars Colin Hanks, Jack Black, John Lithgow, Schuyler Fisk, Catherine O'Hara, Lily Tomlin and Harold Ramis.
I did have to lie my ass off to get in though:
"Are you 21 or under?"
"Oh yes. Look I'm wearing Abercrombie!"
"Are you going to write a review of this movie for a web site?"
"No."
"Have you ever heard of Harry Knowles?"
"You mean that megalomaniacal redheaded dude who lives in Austin? Nope, never heard of him. Never been to his house. I don't know his dad, Jay, either."
"Do you know Moriarty?"
"Oh I especially have never heard of him."
"Robogeek? Tom Joad? Annette Kellerman?"
"Who the hell are they?"
"Are you high right now?"
"What? What does that have to do with anything?"
"Are you in fact a mild mannered astronomer by day, and by night a capo in the Northern California cell of the Ain't It Cool News spy ring known as Agent Copernicus?"
"Now that is just ridiculous. Hell no, really that is the opposite of everything I stand for. I'm a palm reader from Wisconsin, and I have to use an abacus to count to 10."
"Ok, well you can't be too careful. We have to ask that of everyone."
After those pleasantries were exchanged we were herded into the theater and someone explained to us that the film was a work in progress, the color wasn't final, the soundtrack would probably change, and that we are one of the first audiences to see this movie. Much screaming was done to acknowledge that yes we are indeed the chosen people of the earth, blessed and holy that we are to get to shape this work of art with the miracle of popular opinion and least common denominator thinking. And with that the film began.
There are laughs right from the first scene. I won't give it away, but the punch line of one of the first scenes is a camera move, and it had people cracking up. Not bad for such a young director. What comes next also had me laughing my ass off in a, "I can't believe they just did that," kind of way. It was a gutsy move - a scene that could have either horrified people or been very funny. It was funny.
The quick description of the movie is this: Shawn (Colin Hanks) just wants to get into Stanford to become a writer. He devotes his life to this goal - studies hard, becomes the senior class president, writes constantly, etc., but due to a mix-up by his guidance councilor he gets rejected. He makes all kinds of attempts to get into the school, but his girlfriend (Schuyler Fisk), fuck-up brother (Jack Black), drunk mom (Catherine O'Hara), crazy dad (John Lithgow), surfer friends, and others keep somehow ruining his plans. Hijinks ensue. Sounds simple, but it is actually very well done. It is funny, but not lets-just-go- for-the-cheap-laughs funny. The characters have some depth, and a certain humanity that makes them charming.
Maybe the best aspect of the movie is the great performances. Let's start with Colin Hanks. He is great! And I am not just saying that because his dad is a true genius due to his involvement with FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON and his love for space. Who knew Colin Hanks could act? Evidently, he was limited by the source material on Roswell (which is a favorite of Lady Copernicus, who adds, TRL-like: "You go Little Tom! You rock! Woooooooo!") Despite spending the first few minutes thinking of his Dad in BACHELOR PARTY, after a few scenes I didn't see Colin as a mere mini-Hanks, but as a leading man in his own right, and a guy that can really carry a movie. Colin Hanks has charisma, range, and plays an excellent straight man. He reminds me a little of Jason Lee. We are going to see a lot more of him.
Next up is Jack Black. Oh my god this man is funny. I think I laughed at every single scene he is in. He can just stand there (and he does a lot of that in this movie, in his underwear) and crack me up. He plays the dazed-out brother absolutely perfectly.
Schuyler Fisk (daughter of Sissy Spacek, niece of Rip Torn) doesn't have a great role to work with, but she is fine as the girlfriend. Catherine O'Hara is fine as the mom, but the parent that truly shines is John Lithgow as the dad. He is only in a few scenes, but he really makes them count. Other comedy veterans Lily Tomlin and Harold Ramis play small but hilarious roles. I really like the mixing of established and up-and coming talent in this movie. There are at least three other very established actors in funny or serious cameos, but I won't ruin the surprise.
There are things that weren't absolutely perfect about the movie. Some of the jokes had obvious set-ups and were really quite one- dimensional. The old injured man in the wheelchair falling down steps gag just isn't that funny. The confusing urine with wine gag has been done. Mostly though, the gross-out jokes and physical humor were underplayed, and rightly so. The movie's real strength isn't in physical jokes that anyone could write and deliver, but in the comedic talent. One look from Jack Black is funnier than any number of physical bits.
Overall, this is a solid and funny movie. It is light-hearted fare that is an entertaining diversion when you need a laugh. It isn't going to beat AMERICAN PIE or THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY for laughs, but like those other two movies ORANGE COUNTY is laugh-out-loud funny, and it has characters and performances that make it worth checking out.
Copernicus off again... Riding my lightbeam across the universe...
