Search - The Oranges [Blu-ray] on Blu-ray

B.J. W. (analogkid01) from CHICAGO, IL
Reviewed on 7/5/2025...

"The Oranges" is an obscure little 90-minute film from 2011 with an incredibly stacked cast. Hugh Laurie and Catherine Keener play David and Paige Walling, a long-married couple with a grown daughter, Vanessa (Alia Shawkat). They live across the street and are best friends with the Ostroffs, Cathy (Allison Janney) and Terry (Oliver Platt). They too have a grown daughter, Nina (Leighton Meester), who starts the film in the midst of traveling the world and exercising her independence. Life is good in their West Orange NJ subdivision...until the worldly, impulsive Nina returns home and begins an affair with David. Chaos ensues.

Here's the thing: almost everything in this movie is played up for comedy. The emotional and physical infidelity, the betrayals, the domestic violence, the regrets, and the eventual maturation of those involved. I suppose you *could* make a comedy with all these elements, but it'd have to be a complete spoof, a Zucker-esque cartoon. You don't hire *this* cast and try to make a comedy out of this subject matter.

While watching "The Oranges," I was reminded of another film with a stacked cast: "Carnage" by Roman Polanski, starring Kate Winslet, John C. Reilly, Jodie Foster, and Christoph Waltz. An incredible cast with a capable director, yet it's one of the worst films I've ever seen (and again, a film that's praised up and down but I do not understand why). In both cases I just found myself wondering...who writes this stuff? And moreover, who finances/green-lights this stuff? Someone took an extreme leap of faith in Oranges director Julian Farino, whose oeuvre consists mostly of some pretty good TV (The Office, Sex and the City, Brooklyn 99, a bunch of stuff). He's a competent enough director, but this script...ugh. Shawkat's Vanessa is the only one I ever believed was truly impacted in a realistic way by the events of the story.

I can't really recommend this film unless you're an Alia Shawkat completist. Or a Hugh Laurie completist. Or a Catherine Keener completist. Or an Allison Janney completist. Or an Oliver Platt completist. Otherwise you can skip it.

Grade: straight C

Sharon F. (Shar) from AVON PARK, FL
Reviewed on 6/15/2020...

Funny movie about a atypical family life.