[[quoteright:295:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Orange_county_poster_1055.jpg]]
->'''Shaun: ''' But I have to go to college.\\
'''Cindy:''' WHY?\\
'''Shaun:''' ''Because that's what you do after high school!''.

''Orange County'' is a 2002 teen comedy written by Creator/MikeWhite, directed by Creator/JakeKasdan and starring Creator/ColinHanks, Creator/JackBlack, and Creator/SchuylerFisk.[[note]]In other words, it was directed by Lawrence Kasdan's son, and stars both Creator/TomHanks' son and Creator/SissySpacek's daughter.[[/note]] Also in the cast are Creator/CatherineOHara, Creator/JohnLithgow, Creator/LilyTomlin, and Creator/HaroldRamis, among others.

Shaun Brumder (Colin Hanks) is just another [[SurferDude surfer kid]] from [[UsefulNotes/{{California}} Orange County]], living with his DysfunctionalFamily and getting high until his best friend Lonny dies in a surfing accident and he begins to seek more purpose in life. He then discovers a book on the beach, which changes his perspective. Discontented with his family, his school, and pretty much everyone in Orange County, he dreams of becoming an accomplished writer and works hard in high school in order to achieve his dream of studying with his idol, Marcus Skinner, at [[CaliforniaUniversity Stanford]]. However, his application is rejected due to an administrative error on the part of his college counselor, and he tries to get into Stanford via any means necessary with the help of his family and his girlfriend. HilarityEnsues.

Not to be confused with ''Series/TheOC'', which is unrelated despite the same setting.
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!!This film contains examples of:

* TheAlcoholic: Cindy, Shaun and Lance's mom, mainly due to divorcing Bud.
* ArtisticLicenseGeography: Lance claims he could get Shaun and Ashley to Stanford "in 3 hours". Anyone familiar with the California coastline knows it would take twice that time at minimum even if Lance DrivesLikeCrazy. The distance from Orange County to Stanford is about 644 km (400 miles) meaning Lance would have be consistently traveling over 214 km/h (133 mph) to get there in 3 hours. Of course, it's most likely that Lance simply just miscalculated.
* BigBrotherInstinct: Lance is normally a moocher who hangs around doing drugs. He also pulls Shaun out of the pool when the latter tries to drown himself.
* BrilliantButLazy: Shaun, before Lonny's death. Afterward, he throws himself into his schoolwork to make something of his life. He compromises at the end, still being a good student but deciding to surf again.
* CollegeIsHighSchoolPart2: Realized when he sees similar cliques at Stanford doing exactly the same things he hates about high school.
* TheCameo:
** Creator/BenStiller appears as a fireman who comes across Lance, [[spoiler: who burned down the Stanford admissions building.]] He sees right through the lie that Lance tells him about [[spoiler: how the building burned down]], and he advises the authorities to be on a look-out for him.
** Creator/ChevyChase is Shaun's lecherous high school principal.
** [[spoiler:Creator/KevinKline]] as Marcus Skinner, a renowned writer who Shaun hopes to study under at Stanford.
* CreatorCameo: Screenwriter Mike White plays Shaun's English teacher Mr. Burke whom Shaun suspects may be illiterate.
* DivorceIsTemporary: [[spoiler: Bud and Cindy work out their differences and get back together.]]
* DownerBeginning: The movie starts with Shaun recalling out Lonny drowned while surfing. It does get lighter from there, oddly enough.
* DrivesLikeCrazy: Lance.
* DysfunctionalFamily
* ExtremelyShortTimespan: Plot occurs all in one days time.
* FantasyForbiddingFather: Bud doesn't approve of Shaun's aspiration to become a writer.
* FictionFiveHundred: Shaun is part of this; no one expects him to work or make something of his life because he and his friends come from extremely wealthy families. Heck, with how Shaun is determined to be a writer, he's more concerned about telling good stories than about building a career out of it with freelance or releasing books.
* GoldDigger: Cindy, and Bud's new wife Krista, and neither pretend to be anything but.
-->'''Cindy:''' So I married Bob, for you! I had sex with Bob four times for you! So how can you call me a bad mother?
* GranolaGirl: Ashley is obsessed with saving endangered animals.
* HardTruthAesop: Shaun learns the hard way that college is not a guarantee that he'll become a successful writer. He sees that enough students at Stanford party as much as the kids at Orange County, and the writer Marcus Skinner tells him that he doesn't need to go to a top school to build his career. While the college in Orange County is not Ivy-League material, he can do well there because of his skills and drive.
* HeroicSafeMode: Shaun has been repressing his grief since Lonny died. He stops surfing and radically changes his behavior to try and deal with the sadness, meaningless of life, and the inevitability of death. Part of the reason that everyone doesn't take his goal to attend Stanford seriously is that they peg his mental state as being in mourning. The movie ends with him deciding to surf again, showing that he's accepted Lonny's death while deciding to make meaning out of his life.
* IgnorantAboutFire: Lance and the admissions office girl are high and discussing their childhoods as pyromaniacs. Lance accidentally sets the curtain on fire and the two lazily giggle and boredly say, "Put that out." [[spoiler: The building burns down completely.]]
* IntoxicationEnsues: The Dean of Admissions takes three hits of ecstasy, mistaking them for aspirin.
* IronicEchoCut:
-->'''Shaun:''' *narrating* My friends think I've lost my mind.
-->'''Arlo:''' He's lost his mind!
* IvyLeagueForEveryone: Zig-Zagged. Shaun's counselor gets his amazing transcript mixed up with that of a similarly named student, Shane, who has a pitifully low GPA and SAT score. And because of that mix-up, Shane got into Stanford when it should actually be Shaun. Made all the funnier in that Shane only applied to Stanford ''[[ForTheLulz as a joke]]''.
** Played straight with Tanya who got into Stanford via family ties as well as her {{valley girl}}ish friend Dana who got accepted to Yale.
** [[spoiler: Triple subverted with Shaun who ultimately decides to stay in Orange County despite his parents managing to get him into Stanford after all the calamity when he realizes it's his eccentric group of family and friends that inspire him as a writer. He decides to go to the local college instead]].
* {{Jerkass}}: Shaun's father Bud, who abandoned his first family to marry a younger TrophyWife, and disapproves of his dream to be a writer. He [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold gets better]] over the course of the movie, though.
* MayDecemberRomance: Shaun's parents and step-parents.
* MostWritersAreWriters
* NotSoAboveItAll: Stanford is one of the most prestigious and selective universities accepting only the "best and the brightest" or the "future leaders of America". However, Shaun quickly learns that, as far as the student life is concerned, it's nothing more than a glorified party school.
* PlaceWorseThanDeath: How Shaun views Orange County, due to its StepfordSuburbia qualities.
* PrecisionFStrike: Averted with [[CurseCutShort Shaun's dad]]. Inverted with Lance, as Jack Black manages to sneak the f-word in so casually it's hardly noticeable.
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: The high school counselor, who gets Shaun's transcript mixed up with another student's, leading to the plot of the rest of the movie, and does nothing to remedy this.
* OnlySaneMan: Shaun, so bad.
* PyroManiac: Lance reveals he is one as he [[spoiler:burns down the Admissions Building at Stanford]].
* RealLifeWritesThePlot: In-universe. Shaun's story is practically an autobiography as his characters are clearly modeled off his family and friends.
* ReallyGetsAround: Tanya, the popular girl at school who seemingly has no standards and is prone to start making out with anyone, ([[DepravedBisexual male and female]]).
* StepfordSmiler: Cindy.
* SurferDude: Shaun to begin with, Arlo and Chad throughout.
* SweetAndSourGrapes: After the wild night and getting back home, [[spoiler:Shaun finds out that his parents reconcile and his dad pulled some strings to get him into Stanford. Then he thinks about what Marcus Skinner told him about how he doesn't need to go to a good college to learn how to write. Shaun tells his family and girlfriend that he's staying in Orange County and going to the local UC school]].
* TheSlacker: Lance, who is post-high school, unemployed, on parole, and spends all day stoned watching ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants''.
* TheStoner: Lance (of course), Arlo and Chad.
* SurroundedByIdiots: Shaun's motivation for wanting to get out of Orange County.
* ThoseTwoGuys: Arlo and Chad, Shaun's two friends.
* TitleDrop: Naturally all throughout.
* ToAbsentFriends: Lonny's wake.
* ValleyGirl: Ashley is a mild one, but all the other girls in Shaun's high school are extreme valley girls.
* [[WellDoneSonGuy "Well Done, Son" Guy]]: Shaun wants his Dad to support his ambitions of becoming a writer.
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