The Oranges

Synopsis: In conservative West Orange, New Jersey, the Ostroff and Walling families are very close. David Walling and Terry Ostroff are inseparable best friends and run together everyday. David has problems with his wife, Paige. He frequently sleeps alone in his office. Their daughter, Vanessa, is frustrated because she has not succeeded in her career as a designer. Their son, Toby, is moving to China on a temporary assignment. Terry's wife, Cathy, ignores him. Their daughter Nina moved to San Francisco five years ago. Near Thanksgiving, Nina's boyfriend Ethan betrays her at his birthday party and Nina returns to her parents house. Nina argues with her mother and draws closer to David. Soon they have an affair and fall in love, turning the lives of the people close to them upside-down.
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Director(s): Julian Farino
Production: ATO Pictures
  2 nominations.
 
IMDB:
5.9
Metacritic:
46
Rotten Tomatoes:
34%
R
Year:
2011
90 min
$261,662
Website
271 Views


The question of happiness

has preoccupied

philosophers, poets

and pharmaceutical companies

for thousands of years.

Clearly, it's a tricky one.

When I graduated from

design school three years ago,

I had a definite plan.

Couple months at home,

put together a kickass portfolio,

then I'd take Manhattan

by storm.

And here is home.

West Orange, New Jersey.

Nice, huh?

OK, it's not Manhattan,

but, like I say, it's temporary.

I grew up here

with two families.

That's my dad in blue,

and that's his best friend, Terry.

The Inseparables.

They go jogging together

three times a week without fail.

You can set your clock by it.

You could say life in the Oranges

is dependable.

I can't believe

you made me do this.

Good for your appetite.

See you in an hour.

You can depend on Terry

to have a gadget for everything.

Walked 1.2 miles.

Only stopped twice.

That's great, honey.

And you can depend on Cathy

to never hear

a single word he says.

Make sure you put your bicycle

in the garage.

And pull the pork

out of the freezer, honey.

Across the street, our house.

Every year,

my mom gets more involved

with her carolling group.

They start rehearsing

in August.

# Jingle bells

Jingle all the way... #

And every year, my dad

hates them a little bit more.

OK, sure. I'm still here.

I'm a few years behind in my plan.

But you can't

rush these things.

Portfolios need

to be perfect, right?

Plus I have a day job

working in furniture, so...

..as far as I was concerned,

everything was on track.

# Happy birthday to you... #

That is,

until what happened... happened.

Nina Ostroff.

When all this started,

she was at a safe distance,

3, 000 miles away

in San Francisco.

# Happy birthday to you. #

Make a wish, babe.

And I was the fifth wheel

to our parents'

regular Saturday foursome.

Say it again.

OK.

Un coup de birch.

Hey, Vanny.

I read the most

interesting article

called 'The IKEA Conspiracy',

which you'd be

really fascinated by.

- What it imagines is a...

- Terry?

We need to call Nina.

We said 9:
30.

I'm on it.

Vanessa, did you look at

that one-bedroom in Fort Lee?

Yeah. It was, um, like a closet

in the basement.

There's always something, honey.

Don't be so choosy.

Nothing's perfect.

There was, you know,

one window.

- Paige, did I tell you...

- No room to breathe.

...that Joan Marshack

was the listing agent on that?

David, you are going

to really love this.

This speaker box communicates

wirelessly with my cell phone.

And guess where

I read about it first.

'Consumer Reports'. Thank you

so much for the subscription.

- I'm really enjoying it.

- You are consumingly welcome.

I don't even have to take

my cell phone out of my pocket.

Watch.

Dial Nina.

Please repeat request.

TERRY; Dial Nina.

Maybe your pants

are blocking the signal.

They're cotton.

Nina's cell phone, dialling.

Nina - their daughter

and my best friend

from ages 0 to high school.

We spent hours together

planning our big escape.

I'm gonna live in New York.

And Paris.

And I'm gonna be a famous chef

and have a million lovers

who'll take me

all over the world

so I never have to come back

to New Jersey again.

It's like

there's no air here, right?

Totally.

You'll come too, right?

Are you kidding?

Until sophomore year,

when she abandoned me for

Liz Gaines and the Fun Bunch.

She also kissed and later gave

a hand job to Peter Fortunate.

I'd been secretly

in love with him forever.

Then, just as her parents

were lining her up

at some lame college

in Pennsylvania,

she decided she was

going to travel the world.

Or at least those parts

that were out of

her mother's cell phone range.

Hello?

Happy birthday, sweetie!

- Happy birthday!

- Happy birthday, Nina

It's David and Paige.

Vanessa's here too.

It's true. I'm here.

Hey, Ethan.

I think Nina's f***ing parents

are on the phone.

I didn't know I was having

a party. It was a surprise.

Honey, we can't hear you.

Ethan threw me

a surprise party.

It's so great.

Did you guys get

the pictures I sent?

Yes, we did.

More young men should have earrings

in their face.

What? I'm sorry, I can't

hear you. Am I on speaker?

Nina, what day are you

flying in for Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving. Mom, um...

Uh, I don't think I'm gonna

make it for Thanksgiving.

Ethan's photography show's

next weekend, and it's a big deal.

Sweetie, we haven't

seen you for two years.

You haven't been home

in five years.

Since we visited you.

That's a long time.

Um...

Can you take me

off speaker, please?

Sorry, sweetie,

I'd have to disconnect you

to take you off speaker -

it's a very complex system.

OK.

Look, you're not

gonna like this, but...

Ethan and I

are getting married.

He proposed two weeks ago

on his birthday.

He took me out to Baker Beach,

which overlooks

the Golden Gate Bridge,

and he got down on one knee

and everything.

- He proposed on his birthday?

- I don't understand.

I'm in love with him.

That's really great,

sweetie, but...

You're only 24 years old.

Nobody gets married

at 24 anymore.

People get married

when they're 17.

Not white girls

from New Jersey.

- Shh!

- Would you listen to yourself?

No, you listen -

you have made some

very questionable decisions

in your life.

Please don't add to the list

by marrying some loser kid

with zero future.

OK. I have an idea.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes

Ian Helfer

All Ian Helfer scripts | Ian Helfer Scripts

0 fans

Submitted on August 05, 2018

Discuss this script with the community:

0 Comments

    Translation

    Translate and read this script in other languages:

    Select another language:

    • - Select -
    • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
    • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
    • Español (Spanish)
    • Esperanto (Esperanto)
    • 日本語 (Japanese)
    • Português (Portuguese)
    • Deutsch (German)
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • Français (French)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
    • 한국어 (Korean)
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Gaeilge (Irish)
    • Українська (Ukrainian)
    • اردو (Urdu)
    • Magyar (Hungarian)
    • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
    • Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Italiano (Italian)
    • தமிழ் (Tamil)
    • Türkçe (Turkish)
    • తెలుగు (Telugu)
    • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
    • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
    • Čeština (Czech)
    • Polski (Polish)
    • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Românește (Romanian)
    • Nederlands (Dutch)
    • Ελληνικά (Greek)
    • Latinum (Latin)
    • Svenska (Swedish)
    • Dansk (Danish)
    • Suomi (Finnish)
    • فارسی (Persian)
    • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
    • հայերեն (Armenian)
    • Norsk (Norwegian)
    • English (English)

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this screenplay to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "The Oranges" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/the_oranges_15351>.

    We need you!

    Help us build the largest writers community and scripts collection on the web!

    Watch the movie trailer

    The Oranges

    Browse Scripts.com

    The Studio:

    ScreenWriting Tool

    Write your screenplay and focus on the story with many helpful features.