Sun, the beach, surfing and orange groves – with all of these, is there a reason not to move to California and save yourself from corn and more corn?

Any place other than where you have grown up seems better and just more exotic. Well dude, that’s until you move there and realize there are a thousand Jeff Spicolis running about.

“Orange County” gives a closer look the agonies of an intellectual kid trying to distance himself from the sun-dried people of this quaint area in California. Colin Hanks plays Shaun Brumder, a guy like so many whose existence rotated around good waves and hanging with friends.

One fateful day at the beach, a discovery changes Shaun and propels him on a quest to change his life. The treasure is a book entitled “Straightjacket,” written by Marcus Skinner. Shaun decides to read this book not once, but continuously up to 52 times. “Straightjacket” explores the teen angst that Shaun himself experiences in Orange County.

Shaun now has a direction and mission in life, which is to go to Stanford University to become the next great American writer. He even begins his story “Orange County” and mails it to his new mentor, Marcus Skinner.

Unfortunately for Shaun, the forces of fate are working against him. Like some lucky people, Shaun has a large amount of family and friends that want him to stay there and not go away to school. His mother Cindy, perfectly played by Catherine O’Hara, struts around the house in a continuously alcohol-induced, drama-queen performance. The last thing she wants is to see her baby boy leave her, since her other son Lance, played by Jack Black, just lounges around the house in his underwear. Of course this is the sort of dream life that all of us desire, but can’t achieve due to a bothersome career.

Shaun, despite his mother’s wishes, is a shoe-in for Stanford. His transcript looks like pure gold with good grades, a great SAT score and activities including such leader-building skills as class president. But with the fateful arrival of the admission letter, Shaun finds rejection. How could this top student with a dream of being a writer not get accepted?

Well, like many troubled students trying to get into college, the problem was at the high school level. Shaun confronts his unfeeling guidance counselor (Lily Tomlin). Like so many uncaring high school guidance counselors, she sent in the wrong transcript.

In one attempt, Lance drives Shaun and his girlfriend to Stanford to beg the Dean of Admissions to look at Shaun’s transcript and give him a chance. Shaun’s visit to Stanford begins to tarnish the perfect dream of what he thought the college would be like. Home and family start to seem pretty good.

“Orange County” had a few pretty memorable scenes. A majority of these were on account of the charismatic Jack Black. Along with a few other people out there, I really was only interested in seeing this movie because Mr. Black was in it. He, along with a star-stacked supporting cast, gave the movie one of its few aces.

I would recommend this movie for a short bit of fun and for Jack Black fans. Don’t waste the money until “Orange County” pops up at the cheap theaters or at a video store near you.

Honestly, this movie was a gloried MTV TV movie, which seems reasonable since it was produced by MTV Films. Unlike other higher-quality MTV films, such as “Election,” this one should’ve been destined for cable.

“Orange County” presents a sunny side of a dream that went full circle. Dreams are obtainable, but not necessarily the way we would like. The quirks and oddities of our family and friends are the things that we love about them. Sure, they can be annoying, but they also give birth to inspiration and creativity.