Pumpkin (R)
American Zoetrope; IMDb; MGM; Rotten Tomatoes; Wikipedia
streaming sites: Google Play; iTunes; Vudu; YouTube

Caution: potential spoilers, I guess?

So... the main reason I wanted to see this is Christina Ricci. There's also the fact that I like pumpkins, but they have absolutely nothing to do with the film. When I first watched the movie, I decided not to write a review, but some time after starting my "meh" section, I figured I might as well. I don't remember the movie very clearly, other than thinking it was one of the worst things I've ever seen. It's hard to be sure exactly what kind of movie it's even supposed to be. Certainly there are vague "dark comedy" aspects as well as seeming sort of like a sincere kind of inspirational "message movie," though it seems more like a spoof of the latter. I was kind of left feeling that we're meant to think the entire movie was just... I dunno, intentionally ludicrous, or something. (Though I feel like it would be giving the film entirely too much credit to call it a "satire," whether that was the filmmakers' intention or not.)

Anyway, Ricci played this sorority girl named Carolyn, who fell in love with a guy called Pumpkin, who was, ostensibly, developmentally challenged. I mean, everyone except Pumpkin himself seemed to think he was, but personally I was never convinced of that. I always thought he just seemed vaguely weird, or whatever, but not actually challenged. Either way, everyone was very much against Carolyn and Pumpkin becoming a couple. So there were lots of obstacles for the two of them to overcome, to be together.

The one thing I do remember about the movie is that she seemed to start falling for him when he said something that she took to be philosophical, but which didn't really sound that way to me. And it's like, it seemed as if she based the whole relationship on that one thing. Maybe it was partly because he was nicer than anyone else she knew, including her family, friends, and boyfriend (though I vaguely recall thinking maybe he wasn't that much nicer). But I really think it was that one thing he said that one time, which is an incredibly odd thing to base a relationship on, even if she hadn't misinterpreted what he was saying. (I also think that her interpretation wouldn't have made much sense even if he had meant it the way she thought he did. I don't remember exactly what he said, but I vaguely recall thinking it just wouldn't work as a metaphor, or at least that it would have been a poor one.) And in the end... I think she realizes she was wrong about him. But then it was sort of too late.

So, if the whole movie was just an attempt at spoofing serious movies of this type, I have strangely mixed feelings about it... I could almost appreciate the concept, but not the execution. I just didn't find it amusing or inspirational, in any way. I'm almost tempted to call the movie itself developmentally challenged, but I don't think that's quite right. Really, it's just plain ridiculous.