Movie review: The Oranges

(15)

The Oranges is Scenes from a Marriage done New Jersey style.

Hugh Laurie is the suburban American husband who causes chaos by starting an affair with his best friend’s brattish 24-year-old daughter (Leighton Meester.) The film-makers have assembled a strong cast led by Laurie, the estimable Catherine Keener as his unhappy wife, and Oliver Platt and Allison Janney as the neighbours. Even so, this is a strangely tentative film, perched uncomfortably between Meet the Fockers-style comedy and Ingmar Bergman-style introspection.