The Oranges

A slew of good actors are wasted in Julian Farino's feeble dramedy about neighborly infidelity in suburbia, taking place during the Christmas season but offering little in the way of good cheer. Set in West Orange, NJ, The Oranges focuses on two close-knit couples, David and Paige Walling (Hugh Laurie and Catherine Keener) and Terry and Cathy Ostroff (Oliver Platt and Allison Janney), who live across the street from one another and have been best friends for years. After the Ostroffs' sultry daughter, Nina (Leighton Meester), returns home (fleeing from her unfaithful boyfriend), she swiftly seduces David. Not surprisingly, all hell breaks loose when the affair is discovered; in fact, Paige becomes so angry that, in one of the movie's supposedly crazy sequences, she drives the family car over her husband's carefully-arranged holiday decorations. The Oranges is devoid of subtlety, using quirks to define the characters (including Nina's boyfriend, who shows up to win her back), so their motivations remain either simplistic or opaque, making it hard to feel much concern (despite game efforts by the cast). Not a necessary purchase. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include an "Opening Doors" making-of featurette (7 min.), a behind-the-scenes featurette (4 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are bonus DVD, digital, and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a small extras package for a disappointing comedy.] (F. Swietek)