Orange County (2002)

Image credit: Orange County: Gemma Lamana

SLOB STORY ''Orange'''s Black and Hanks

The knowledge that Colin Hanks and Schuyler Fisk, bright-faced stars of Orange County, are the children of Tom Hanks and Sissy Spacek, respectively, and that director Jake Kasdan is the son of director Lawrence Kasdan, only adds to the charms of this offbeat comedy, a generous little story about the sons and daughters of incarcerating privilege. Hanks plays schlub-monikered high school senior Shaun Brumder, the only adult in a family of spoiled California babies -- snockered mother (Catherine O'Hara), stoned brother (Jack Black), and money- obsessed father (John Lithgow) remarried to a young L.A. babe (Leslie Mann). All Shaun wants to do is escape, and everyone but his loyal girlfriend (Fisk) stands in his way.

The to-die-for supporting cast, which includes Lily Tomlin, Harold Ramis, Ben Stiller, and Kevin Kline, may have signed on just to do a solid for the stars' star parents (all except for madman Black, who signed on for the chance to appear in truly skeevy underpants). But they just as well may have grabbed their bit parts because they wisely admired the uniquely warped but maturely tolerant worldview of Mike White (''Chuck & Buck''), who wrote the script. Arriving amid the traditionally withered harvest of January releases, ''Orange County'' is peachy.