'ORANGE COUNTY' DOES HAVE APPEAL, BUT VERY LITTLE JUICE.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

For some, the mere mention of such literary figures as William Faulkner and James Joyce will make ``Orange County'' seem like a teen comedy of superior intelligence.

But in the real world, merely mentioning them isn't enough. Perhaps that's one more cliche of Southern California life that the movie is trying to parody: name-dropping. If so, it's one of the film's subtler gags. Dense surfer dudes, superficial cheerleaders and dysfunctional suburban families make up the majority of more-obvious targets.

Since the film was written by Mike White (``Chuck & Buck'') and directed by Jake Kasdan (``Zero Effect,'' TV's ``Undeclared''), it can't help but have a certain number of witty moments. But in general, its satire is too broad to mesh with its more serious storyline about an aspiring writer's struggle to break free of the materialistic morons in his life and study with his idol at Stanford.

Colin Hanks plays the intelligent, unaccountably well-adjusted Shaun Brumder. He lives with his drunken, clinging mother (Catherine O'Hara) and perpetually stoned older brother Lance (Jack Black) in the Spanish-style home owned by his very old, near-catatonic stepdad. Shaun's biological father (John Lithgow) lives in much fancier, seaside digs with his airheaded trophy wife and their Ritalin joke of a little boy.

Shaun appears lucky to have found a very nice, supportive girlfriend, Ashley (Schuyler Fisk), though she secretly doesn't want him to go up north, lest he drop her for more intellectually stimulating company.

Due to a series of only-in-So-Cal screw-ups, Shaun must resort to increasingly desperate measures to get accepted at his school of choice, culminating in a road trip with Lance and Ashley that results in a campus fire and accidentally pumping the dean of admissions (a very funny Harold Ramis) full of psychedelics.

Ramis isn't the only middle-age (or older) guest star. Lily Tomlin, Chevy Chase, Garry Marshall, Dana Ivey and Kevin Kline all drop in, as do younger players Jane Adams and writer White himself, who probably gets the best laughs of this group as a high-school lit teacher who has probably never read a book.

Overall, though, the veteran assists don't do much for the film; like O'Hara, Black and Lithgow's roles, they're too caricatured, yet not extreme enough to make distinctive impressions. Hanks (son of Tom) and Fisk (daughter of Sissy Spacek) are appealing, emotionally honest performers, and they carry the film with impressive conviction.

If only ``Orange County'' had any real weight - literary, satiric or comic - worth carrying. Much like its easily dismissive take on the upscale lifestyle, there isn't much there here.

``ORANGE COUNTY''

(Rated PG-13: language, drug use, nudity)

The stars: Colin Hanks, Schuyler Fisk, Jack Black, Catherine O'Hara, John Lithgow, Lily Tomlin, Harold Ramis.

Behind the scenes: Directed by Jake Kasdan. Written by Mike White. Produced by Scott Rudin, Van Toffler, David Gale and Scott Aversano.

Running time: One hour, 23 minutes.

Playing: Citywide.

Our rating: Two stars

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Colin Hanks, right, and girlfriend Schuyler Fisk forge a questionable relationship with college dean of admissions Harold Ramis in the offbeat ``Orange County.''