Pumpkin

"Your relationship is...inappropriate," one of Carolyn's sadly superficial sorority sisters says to her in the course of "Pumpkin", and that statement sums up this superbly uncategorizable exercise to perfection. Nothing about "Pumpkin" is appropriate, from the soundtrack choices (the music in the fight scene between Pumpkin and Kent in particular), the casting (it was a near-shock to see Dominique Swain with her clothes on through the ENTIRE FILM for openers), the story itself and the shamelessly ambiguous manner in which it's presented. It works, though, thanks to a supremely conflicted and tender performance from Christina Ricci and the simplicity, sensitivity and sincerity of Hank Harris' interpretation of the title character. Life isn't just one thing, it's all things all at one time sometimes. Just like this movie.

Satires are not always comedies, just like comedies are not always satires. Examples: "Robocop", "District 9", "Starship Troopers", "Stepford Wives" ...these are all brilliant satires; yet they are not comedies.

I think it's misleading for Pumpkin to be advertised as a comedy. Sure, it's packed full of subtle humour, but like the films I mentioned above, its intent is probably not to make us laugh out loud. Its intent is to give us an offbeat look at society without taking itself too seriously. So if you go into this film expecting something "HYSTERICALLY FUNNY" (says the Washington Post), you might be disappointed.

Another caveat: this film is not about disabled people--not like, say, "Shine" or "My Left Foot". True, the plot is about a sorority girl who gets into an "inappropriate" relationship with a mentally challenged boy, but that's just a metaphor for what the film is really hitting us with. The film simply uses this metaphor to illustrate the screwed-up norms of human society. Pay attention early on to the speech Christina Ricci gives about how sororities & fraternities end up dividing us, labeling us and creating differences where none really exist. I believe that encapsulates what this film is trying to tell us about our world, and you'll realize it's a lot more than just a romantic comedy.

In order to fully appreciate this film, you CANNOT take anything at face value. Everything ...even the wooden acting or the melodramatic pill scene or the exploding car (lol)... is designed to be over-the-top, showing us a bizarre world and giving a little wink to the audience. Almost every scene will have you wondering if the filmmakers were being ironic, and that's the beauty of unravelling a film such as this. It's very subtle but well executed, almost like Hitchcock's brand of humour in Strangers on a Train which, similarly, pokes fun at the veneer of polite society hiding the screwed-uppedness beneath (in fact, "Pumpkin" has a tennis scene that's reminiscent of the tennis scene in the "Strangers").

I'm not sure if everyone will like Pumpkin but I sure did. If you're a fan of the 4 satires I mentioned in my 1st paragraph, I think you'll like it. If so, I highly recommend the Mexican film "Casi Divas" (2008) about a cut-throat talent competition, and the Spanish movie "El Crimen Ferpecto" (2004) about a man trapped in a department store overnight. Along with "Pumpkin", these are light-hearted gems that make us think hard about the human condition. Oh don't forget "Heathers" (1988) which fits right in with the bunch, though a bit on the darker side.

She's one of the best young actresses, always searching for projects she's interested in and not stuff designed to make her a star. Pumpkin is one of the most unusual films around...similar to "Heathers" in many ways....but still remains its own movie. Christina Ricci is fabulous in the role of a sorority girl who finds her humanity after falling in love with a mentally challenged boy. It's part satire, part black comedy, part romance...and it has received criticism for this. But I admire a film that explores different genres...and when they are as entertaining as Pumpkin that makes it all worthwhile.

Surprisingly sweet dark comedy is really too sentimental at heart to be the edgy piece it was promoted as, and the curious final results show definite signs of indecisive filmmakers (two directors!) at the helm. A sorority princess living in a privileged bubble has her existence turned upside-down after forging a loving relationship with a mentally challenged young man, losing her friends in the process. The direction is erratic, and the tone of the film changes from scene to scene, yet it is certainly unpredictable and the cast is game. I don't know if the focus of the movie was changed midway, but the later sequences have a sweet nuance to them, as if a big softie suddenly took over to see this thing through to a happy ending. And then there's that final shot which, in keeping with the rest of the picture, is amusingly bizarre. **1/2 from ****

"Pumpkin" slips mercurially through the genres ending up somewhere around black comedy with farcical overtones and biting undercurrents as it tells of a privileged, superficial sorority sister (Ricci) who "gets real" and falls for a mentally challenged man (Harris) while coaching him for a Special Olympics type event. The film boldly treads on thin ice, clumsily at times, as it tramples social constructs from decorum to morality while managing to maintain a marginally interesting storyline. Probably a real achievement given the experience of the auteur, "Pumpkin" will likely end up a love it or hate it flick of modest significance. Worth a look as a curiosity if nothing more. (B)