Rising young stars colin hanks and schuyler fisk head up an outstanding cast including jack black shallow hal, catherine o'hara home alone, john lithgow 3rd rock from the sun, harold ramis and lily tomlin in this outrageous coming of age comedy.shaun brumder hanks is content to be a bright, talented, but unfocused southern california surf slacker until the day he discovers a novel by acclaimed author martin skinner'. '.strtoupper('i')nspired, he suddenly realises his life's ambition to leave behind mind numbing orange county and study creative writing with skinner at stanford university'. '.strtoupper('b')ut after being denied enrolment due to an admissions error, shaun is forced to seek help not only from his girlfriend ashley fisk but also his hopelessly dysfunctional parents o'hara lithgow, stoner brother lance black, and a host of hilarious circumstances to make his dream of escaping his hometown nightmare a reality.