Fresh from calling off her engagement after catching her philandering fiancé in the act, 24-year-old Nina Ostroff (Leighton Meester) is visiting home for the first time in five years. At first, Terry (Oliver Platt) and Carol (Alison Janney) are thrilled to have their daughter home for the holidays, but when Carol discovers her daughter emerging from a hotel room with her father’s best friend, David (Hugh Laurie), things quickly become complicated.
You see, David and his wife Paige (Catherine Keener) have lived across the street from the Walling family for years. Not only did their daughter Vanessa (Alia Shawkat) attend high school with Nina, but their son Toby (Adam Brody) still harbors a romantic interest for his childhood sweetheart. Hilarity ensues as both families are forced to deal with the ongoing relationship between David and Nina, and the emotional and psychological effects it has on everyone involved.
While Laurie and Meester display believable chemistry in their scenes together, they’re outshined by Laurie’s onscreen relationship with Platt, which director Julian Farino calls “the true love story of the film.” Watching their characters wander aimlessly through their daily routines after the loss of a lifelong friendship is comically heartbreaking, and their struggles are at the center of some of the best moments in the film.
The Oranges could easily have been another mid-life crisis tale in the vein of American Beauty, but director Julian Farino takes a decidedly different approach to the material. The connection between David and Nina isn’t about lust or sexuality or an older man trying to take advantage of a younger woman – these are two people at very difficult points in their life that find themselves drawn to each other because of circumstances neither of them can control. Wisely refusing to pass judgment on David and Nina or to force the supporting cast into a sympathetic light, Farino is content to let his characters breathe and to let the audience formulate their own opinions, a tactic which more filmmakers should aspire to.