Okay, so maybe it's not the most realistic movie ever, but Orange County is good for a few laughs and even touches on some underlying themes most college students can relate to.

Colin Hanks, Tom Hanks' son, plays Shaun, a high school senior living with an overly exaggerated dysfunctional family. In the beginning of the movie Shaun is a surfer dude who becomes enlightened by the book "Straight Jacket" by Stanford professor Marcus Skinner (Kevin Kline). After reading the book 52 times he decides to become a writer and aspires to study at Stanford University. However, his guidance counselor (Lily Tomlin) sends in the wrong transcript so Shaun gets rejected from Stanford and spends the rest of the movie trying to convince the university he is, in fact, a good student.

Shaun is an enjoyable, somewhat nerdy character who falls victim to circumstances beyond his control — a drunk for a mother, (Catherine O'Hara), a druggie brother (Jack Black) and a distant father (John Lithgow). And through the entire movie you find yourself rooting for Shaun.

While great actors make up the cast and people like Ben Stiller, Chevy Chase and Kevin Kline make cameo appearances, there still were some instances that the movie could do without. For instance, did Jack Black have to be in his underwear in almost every scene? Not only is it unpleasing to the eye, but what was the real purpose? Boxers wouldn't have been too bad, but droopy tighty-whiteys? While it was funny every now and then, by the end of the movie it got to be too much.

Also, did Black have to be such a moron? I thought and hoped that by the end of the movie Black would have some sort of discovery and decide to do something with his life — besides drugs. Also, while this movie was supposed to be a gross exaggeration, there should still be some believability in the movie, the fact that Black manages to burn down the admissions building at Stanford is not very realistic. More fantastical is the fact that the skinny, somewhat cute admissions secretary decides to have sex with Black and inadvertently aides in the fire.

But Shaun's mother, O'Hara, was absolutely hilarious and a little bit more believable than some of the other characters. Shaun's air-heady girlfriend, (Schuyler Fisk who is Sissy Spacek's daughter), added a touch of sweetness to the flick. It's hard not to laugh at absurdity of this movie.

This is a short, funny movie that allows its viewers to get away from real-life, de-stress from college life and laugh.

True, this type of movie has been done many times before, but it's humorous and can hold its own all the same. We even learn lessons like money doesn't buy happiness and if you're persistent enough you can get what you want. Imagine that — life altering lessons emerging in a fluff comedy.

And who doesn't use college as an escape from family dysfunction and a way to get out of their own hometown only to find that college is the same as high school?