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An Affair To Forget

Set in the suburbs of New Jersey, "The Oranges" is about two neighboring families who have been friends for years. They jog together, spend the holidays at each other's homes, and gab about their lives. All is well, until it's not.

Nina (Leighton Meester), 24, returns from school after a five-year hiatus and a recent breakup with her fiancée. Her parents, Carol (Allison Janney) and Terry (Oliver Platt), still seem unhappy in their marriage, so she didn't miss much. Their friends and neighbors are spouses Paige (Catherine Keener) and David (Hugh Laurie), plus daughter Vanessa (Alia Shawkat), who resents that Nina went off to have a fabulous life while she was stuck in New Jersey.

It's all very sitcomy, but rest assured, it gets worse. Nina and David share a kiss on the couch after their successful son (Adam Brody) fails to make an impression on her. That kiss leads to a full-blown affair, declarations of love, and both families dealing with the repercussions and ickiness of the situation.

Here's why it fails: "The Oranges" can't track down the right tone. If it's trying to be a dark comedy, it's not funny enough. If it wants to be a serious film about love happening at random, then establishing an actual relationship would be useful. We don't see anything between Nina and David other than her need for validation and his head-first dive into a mid-life crisis. There's nothing special or developed about their union in Ian Helfer and Jay Reiss' lacking script. Without that, it's a house of cards.

What makes the movie even slightly watchable is the cast of quirky all-stars. Throw Janney, Platt, Laurie and Keener in a room, and you're bound to find something to smile about. It's just a shame they're not given more to do. Janney's main character trait is to interrupt Platt whenever he's talking, which she seems to enjoy thoroughly, and Keener acts like she's fine with the affair until she drives through a lawn full of Christmas decorations in a fit of bah-humbug rage. (Ok, that scene kind of rules.) Beyond that, everyone is irritated and processing without much heft.

A story based around Vanessa would have been more satisfying, because Shawkat (best known as Maeby on "Arrested Development") has more personality in her clavicle than Meester has in her whole body. Yes, she's mastered the art of playing a sultry brat. Next? "The Oranges" is a missed opportunity wrapped in an identity crisis. There are enough strained sitcoms on TV and this one fits right in with those.