Pumpkin | How Correct is Politically-Correct?
A bottle-blond Christina Ricci is playing consummate W.A.S.P. and cheery sorority girl Carolyn McDuffy who falls in love with a mentally- and physically-challenged boy, Pumpkin Romanoff, played by Hank Harris. The initial premise won’t really catch your fancy. However, Pumpkin, the movie, seems to hook you with a degree of dark satire and an outrageous, not-so-politically-correct treatment that is at times hilarious and at times a hitting statement on so-called politically correct behavior.
The root of all the hoopla is a competition among the Greek-letter sororities for Sorority of the Year. Carolyn’s sorority, Alpha Omega Phi, is sponsoring a team for the Challenged Games, so that each sorority sister is assigned a challenged person to coach. She is teamed up with Pumpkin, whom she initially disdains, but eventually she falls in love with him because he “sees into her soul,” having to choose between the retarded-er-challenged boy and her tennis champ-campus king boyfriend Kent.
Christina Ricci has made a living out of playing quirky characters and this one is no exception. She parodies the got-it-all-together blonde campus queens (maybe a take on Elle Woods) and gives her performance a little oomph. Marisa Coughlan plays the focused sorority president who does everything and anything in her power to win Sorority of the Year—missed her since that promising yet ill-fated Wasteland. Brenda Blethyn, quite a talented actress, is a bit underused as Pumpkin’s protective alcoholic mother, who can’t make heads or tails of her son growing up and actually maturing (“you’re not retarded… you’re special… we’re sure, we had you tested!”).
Honestly, you might not know what to make of this movie—if it’s a black comedy, a parody, or a romantic comedy. There are flashes of brilliant satire, and then there are some seemingly ill-placed bouts with saccharin that don’t really just fit in. It seems like the director wanted to make it all of these, but the totality wasn’t all that seamless. It does have its moments, though, and it stretches the boundaries of so-called taste. Favorite moments included a West Side Story-like face-off and the fuss about Alpha Omega Phi’s Asian member.
Pumpkin pokes fun at the pretentiousness of supposed politically-correct organizations, in how the sorority deals with the “inappropriate” relationship of Carolyn and Pumpkin, one of their own, and one of their charity cases. This is not a movie that I would watch over; and in fact it could have been shortened a little bit. However, it did elicit wry smiles and the occasional laugh—not a total waste.
Neither hilarious nor serious, but borderline scathing. Rightly so that this movie was viewed on cable.
The root of all the hoopla is a competition among the Greek-letter sororities for Sorority of the Year. Carolyn’s sorority, Alpha Omega Phi, is sponsoring a team for the Challenged Games, so that each sorority sister is assigned a challenged person to coach. She is teamed up with Pumpkin, whom she initially disdains, but eventually she falls in love with him because he “sees into her soul,” having to choose between the retarded-er-challenged boy and her tennis champ-campus king boyfriend Kent.
Christina Ricci has made a living out of playing quirky characters and this one is no exception. She parodies the got-it-all-together blonde campus queens (maybe a take on Elle Woods) and gives her performance a little oomph. Marisa Coughlan plays the focused sorority president who does everything and anything in her power to win Sorority of the Year—missed her since that promising yet ill-fated Wasteland. Brenda Blethyn, quite a talented actress, is a bit underused as Pumpkin’s protective alcoholic mother, who can’t make heads or tails of her son growing up and actually maturing (“you’re not retarded… you’re special… we’re sure, we had you tested!”).
Honestly, you might not know what to make of this movie—if it’s a black comedy, a parody, or a romantic comedy. There are flashes of brilliant satire, and then there are some seemingly ill-placed bouts with saccharin that don’t really just fit in. It seems like the director wanted to make it all of these, but the totality wasn’t all that seamless. It does have its moments, though, and it stretches the boundaries of so-called taste. Favorite moments included a West Side Story-like face-off and the fuss about Alpha Omega Phi’s Asian member.
Pumpkin pokes fun at the pretentiousness of supposed politically-correct organizations, in how the sorority deals with the “inappropriate” relationship of Carolyn and Pumpkin, one of their own, and one of their charity cases. This is not a movie that I would watch over; and in fact it could have been shortened a little bit. However, it did elicit wry smiles and the occasional laugh—not a total waste.
Neither hilarious nor serious, but borderline scathing. Rightly so that this movie was viewed on cable.
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