Pumpkin (2002)

I can't say why this hasn't become a cult classic, as it's such a rich and wonderful satirical story with silliness and heart and real humanity.Christina Ricci shines brightly in this film, true to her character from beginning to end. Even as a woman, I had to appreciate the obvious display of her naturally full chest as a second character, from the slow-mo running sequence to the particularly cold room of her distracted singing. Melissa McCarthy is brilliant in this, showing her natural talent as an actress, and the fabulous Amy Adams! I think she has 2 lines in this, yet you do remember her. Well crafted and so, so funny! A quirky oddball of a comedy, but boy do I wish they made more films like it today.

This movie is so bizarre LOL. I have seen it several times on TV over the years, and I was always lost. Now, I think I kind of get the direction they were taking this in, but it is still strange. I give it 3 stars for originality, and making my family laugh heartily at several parts. I think they leave this ambiguous on purpose, upon further inspection, because I used to just think the writers were weird fruitcakes, and the movie was utter garbage. It is still really stupid, and doesn't quite work, but again, I can at least give them points for entertaining us with something that makes you go "What? What does this mean?" The funniest parts that kill the film, though are: 1)How does a sorority girl ever fall in love with a handicapped person?2)Why is this poor kid named Pumpkin?3)Romanoff makes us think of Romanov, which had me picturing the Russian Revolution and murder of the czar's family. Maybe that one is just weird on my part.4)Pumpkin seems to fluctuate between MENTALLY retarded and PHYSICALLY handicapped. This greatly diminishes other aspects of the story, and how to truly approach or understand the meaning of the material. This makes it funny in a stupid writing sort of way, instead of comedic way. For instance, at the start, Pumpkin can only sit in a wheelchair, barely throw a frisbee, and barely stand up or talk without falling over. Are we really to believe that a few weeks of loving moments from the girl suddenly gives him the ability to be punched 10 times, and throw a muscular college guy on the ground, attempt to drive cars, compete in the special olympics, have sex, ride a bus to find someone, or a myriad of other actions that his invalid former self couldn't do 40 mins. earlier?????? This leaves you wondering if the sorority girl is really in love with a mentally-challenged guy, a physically-challenged guy with a normal brain, or an alien mutant that assumes random forms of body and intelligence at will.5) Did they really all forget that they left a boy in a wheelchair on the beach, and leave to drive the fat girl(from Mike and Molly) all the way home, leaving him sunburned, at the mercy of the ocean or attackers????? So stupid I had to laugh.6)Would the tennis player dude really be mean to everyone, and then be that nice to the fat friend at the beach, and concerned over her feelings?7) The irony of the tennis player ending up in a wheelchair, and then coaching the special team?!?!?!?! Kind of brilliant, kind of idiotic.8)The suspension of disbelief is just beyond ridiculous. A sorority girl sneaks into a retarded guy's bedroom to bang him, and then ruins her sorority sisters' chances of winning SOY awards? The premise of sorority airheads was very true, and comical, but they kind of use it to the extreme. 9)Why are neighbors lined up on the streets of Christina Ricci's community when she drops out of college. Do random people know when you are driving up to talk to your mom and about dropping out of school? This scene is really hilarious in a subtle way.10) Does a college, community, or sorority really give a damn if you do stupid stuff and drop out of the club or school??? They acted like they would really put on an intervention for this girl to get her back to the campus because everyone needed her so badly to win prestigious awards and hold up the pillars of the college society on campus. Most people would have already appointed a new chick to run things and just moved on.11)Everyone in the movie looks like they are from anther era in time, and Pumpkin's expressions are just idiotic. He goes from not being able to do anything, to being able to talk and play sports and fight.12)NONE OF THIS WOULD EVER HAPPEN ANYWHERE IN A MILLION YEARS!!!!!!!!This is funny, but so stupid on so many levels. I hope that was the point, because the meandering from dark comedy, to tragedy, to drama, to satire, to action, to fantasy-- and back again, throughout the film, really leaves you like WTF???? Plus, I would have rated it higher if the film was shorter. It feels like torture and punishment after the first hour or so. The run time for something this awkward and experimental should not be so grueling and drawn out. You get the whole point 100 times, long before the movie ends. The 1st half is funny; the 2nd is just moronic.

I am so confused on how I feel about this film. It had good parts, sad parts, happy parts, and just plain out cheesy bad parts. I give it a 5 because its not bad but its not good either. It's in between. I think for me it was the actors who threw it off for me. But again I'm not sure. This film was special. (No pun intended.) I did however love the story line. It is a touching story. I'm not sure if the director was trying to make it a big ball of confusion on purpose. If so, he defiantly succeeded. Again, still not sure what I'm supposed to be feeling. But it does have me feeling confused. So its got be feeling something at least.

I loved it. If you loved The House of Yes or Legally Blonde, you'll love this film. I was really surprised to see rather low ratings for this film on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes, but I really think this is one of those sleeper films that will never be epic, but the story is great and it's an easy film to take-in. This is a comedy so dark, it makes Heathers appear vanilla in comparison. They stop at nothing to make a joke, which takes a huge risk of offending a number of viewers – and I admire that bravery. Many sites say the film is the most underrated in a decade.Basically, Christini Ricci has an Elle Woods-type "perfect" boyfriend, a perfect sorority life and a family who thrives on "status" when her sorority chooses to help disabled persons as their charity for the year. Each sister is assigned a person to help, and Ricci ends up falling in love with her "retard" (a word used a great deal throughout the movie), has sex with him and shatters her perfect life.A good portion of this movie certainly isn't politically correct, however, Ricci's character serves as the balance, making many of the dark elements laugh-out-loud hilarious. I probably could have lived without the West Side Story-style fight scene towards the end, but all-in-all, I think this is without a doubt a must-see film!