in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The film was shot with Red cameras. The narration was provided by Shawkat's character Vanessa whose voice-over was recorded in post-production during the editing of the film. ATO Pictures acquired the rights of distribution in September 2011. Release The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2011 and opened the Montclair Film Festival on May 1, 2012. It received a limited release in the United States on October 5, 2012, being screened in 110 theaters. The film was released in the UK on December 7, 2012. Critical response On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a approval rating based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's consensus is: "Despite the efforts of its accomplished cast, The Oranges suffers from a mediocre script that fails to deliver well-rounded characters, dramatic tension, or sufficient laughs." On Metacritic it has a weighted score of 46 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Giving it 3 stars out of 4, Moira Macdonald of The Seattle Times wrote highly of The Oranges, calling it "a superbly cast dark comedy; it's a familiar story made fresh by actors who know how to make each breath matter." She found the film funny. The San Francisco Chronicle reviewer Mick LaSalle said that despite feeling sometimes "inauthentic," the film "breaks formula; its concerns are not the usual movie concerns, and it takes what might have been a standard plot in some unexpected directions. [...] The film just examines the interpersonal dynamics in an honest way. This leads to conflicts but also to unexpected and effective moments of tenderness between various characters." He wrote that Laurie and Platt "stand out" because of the good writing of their characters and that Meester embodies well the 24-year-old. Rafer Guzman of Newsday gave the film a 2-star rating out of 4 and wrote: "The Oranges hits and misses at random. Meester's Nina is absolutely radiant, but Laurie's David is a dour dullard. There are some genuinely moving moments, but the mayhem-in-suburbia slapstick falls flat. The film is certainly unpredictable, but that's partly because it doesn't know its own mind." The Chicago Tribune critic Michael Phillips described the film as "a comedy rueful but tidy and safe," which sparked not much interest in him, and added that it is "a placid tale of impulses running wild." He, however,