Rating: 
Summary: Sorta Blah...
Review: If there is one DVD I have been craving to own, it is this one. I have a tendency to buy DVDs to watch the movie for the first time in the comfort of my own home, and that was my plan for this one. I heard "hysterically funny" as a review. Hmmm... not so sure about that. Could it be because I felt bad laughing at all the jokes? Could it be becuase Christina Ricci is capable of so much more than she gives to this role? I think YES on both. The laughter is few and far between in this flick, because I felt nautious from the plot line flip-flopping so often. Jaw Breaker + What's Eating Gilbert Grape + Heathers = HORRIBLE FILM. Maybe given a second chance and some serious thinking this movie would deserve the stars I gave it, but for now I don't feel like it is worth a second chance. It's stars give props to the cast for actually sticking with the project! And the DVD offers nothing to sooth my angry head. No commentary, no cast and crew details, no NOTHING. Is MGM trying to rob me? My copy will be returned tomorrow. If you're anything like me and you buy movies without having seen them before, I suggest RENTING this one first...
Rating: 
Summary: Magnifico! 5 enthusiastic stars far beyond expectations
Review: I went to see Pumpkin with the expectation of another teen coming-of-age movie, perhaps a little bit more edgy, à la Todd Solondz (director of "Welcome to the Dollhouse", another fine film). But what I got exceeded all expectations. I'll not go into the plot, as you can read a (albeit unflattering) plot summary put together by the fine people at Amazon.com. What I will say is that this film is deceptively deep, wildly romantic, unapologetically witty, and ultimately a piece of compassionate humanity. Contrary to the opinions of the well-meaning offical Amazon reviewer, I felt the execution of this film was spectacular, even if not completely flawless (and how many films can claim that?). Under the hands of less capable actors or productions crew, the premise of this movie might easily been completely absurd. However, luckily for us this is not the case. "Pumpkin" is certainly Christina Ricci's best performance to date, as we are finally shown the true depth of her apparently considerable skill as an actress. The male lead Hank Harris was also fantastic, making the growth of his character both believable and touching. Combine that with one of the smartest scripts in recent history and you have yourself a fine movie.
"Pumpkin" is multifaceted, and draws some of its inspirations from Cinderella (as seen in the title), Romeo and Juliet, and classic "triumph-of-the-human-spirit" type films (à la "Gattaca", another fantastic film). However, Pumpkin warps these themes into its own, and emerges as a truly wonderful piece of extraordinary filmmaking.
Rating:
Summary: do whatever you have to, see this movie
Review: one word; incredible. this is an unexpected relief from the pile of horseshiet hollywood shovels down your throat all year. this is a gem. you can get the general synapse of the movie from what amazon and the other reviewers have given you. dont miss this movie, you'll never know how sorry you would be if you do.
Rating:
Summary: Genius
Review: I've never seen anything like "Pumpkin," and I doubt I ever will. It is a movie so multi-layered and so sophisticated in its apparent and deceiving simplicity that it's likely to go over the head of moviegoers used to the same old simplistic commercial fodder. I can tell you three things about this film: 1. The closer you look and analyse it, the funnier and more meaningful it becomes 2. It's impossible to pidgeonhole or put in a box and that's all critics do these days and so it is probably one of the most underrated films in a long time 3. Appreciation and a following for this film will grow through the years as people see it as a daring and provocative piece of art and not a missfired attempt at satire. I've seen Pumpkin three times and I'm betting that this film will become a classic and will reappear at your local retro theater in years to come.
Rating: 
Summary: Waitaminute....
Review: After reading incredibly mixed reviews where critics badmouthed this film because they couldn't pidgeonhole it, I knew Pumpkin had to have something going for it. Quirky? Yes. (Pumpkin finds an Englebert Humperdink album mixed in with his late father's girlie-mag stash). Funny? Yes, sometimes in subtle ways that you have to watch for. (Christina Ricci attempts suicide after making a mess of her sorority status by--drinking Pepto Bismol and contact lens solution).
There's lots of little visual "signals" like that throughout the film (was that a LIVE baby shrimp in her salad?) and I arrive at the conclusion that the directors certainly intend to play with your head a bit. Play they do, taking on several sub-genres of comedy at once. If you like anything by John Waters or even Steve Martin, you'll like this film. Check your preconceived notions of what a film "should" be at the door.
Rating: 
Summary: "Pumpkin" Should be Smashed
Review: Maybe I shouldn't review this movie since I left halfway through, but if I can save one other person from wasting their time, it will be worth it. "Pumpkin" is the worst movie I've seen this year. I went to see it because from the trailer, it looked like it could be a sweet, stirring romance. Christina Ricci plays a college student in a sorority that decides to sponsor and work with challenged athletes in a charitable endeavor, and she falls in love with the young man in her charge. After he says all of 10 words to her (like uttering her name and "You're my friend"), she apparently decides he has the soul of a poet. Either the filmmakers completely forgot about character development, or this movie was hacked to pieces in the editing room. Christina Ricci's character says she can't understand why life can't be beautiful and perfect, and when she starts seeing dead things and garbage on the street (which is supposed to symbolize the ugliness of life), I couldn't take it anymore. The performances were dreadful, the editing was choppy, the music was inappropriate, and the character development was nil. The filmmaking was just infantile. I saw this piece of tripe at the Varsity Theater in Seattle's University district, and when I asked about even a partial refund or voucher, they refused. I've been to theaters which will offer a voucher if the movie experience is dissatisfying, but at the Varsity Theater, you're on your own. They told me to read a review next time before I spend [price]. Well, this was a brutal lesson in caveat emptor, and though I will never get 45 of my valuable weekend minutes back, I hope this will save others some grief.
Rating:
Summary: "An Ultimately Toothless Satire"
Review: This film benefits from the charming performances of Christina Ricci and Hank Harris as a coddled sorority girl and her "challenged" new boyfriend. The film itself, though, suffers from an uncertainty of tone which interferes with its being either a successful satire on contemporary shallowness or a sympathetic treatment of the feelings of the "different" among us. The film tries to have it both ways, only to succeed in neither. It is further weakened by its apparent ignorance of the disappearance of the standards-setting WASP elite years ago. The Pasadena family out of which the Christina Ricci character comes owes more to dated literature or film than to a fresh, gimlet-eyed observation of the rich and their entitled children. In this area, Todd Solondz' "Storytelling" is much more accurate and hence more successful as contemporary satire. The filmakers of "Pumpkin" seem in fact to have borrowed from Solondz. One regrets that they didn't imitate him in his looking at actually current satirical targets and his choosing to take no prisoners.
Rating:
Summary: This was pure garbage
Review: Do not follow that BS review on the dvd that says it's funny cause this film was just plain BAD. I'm not even going to go into the fact that this is one of the worst films I've ever seen and that it's a love story between a girl and a....hmmm I really can't say cause I'll get flamed for it so I'll just put into simpler words for you... DO NOT WATCH THIS FILM! It had a very cheesy storyline, Christina Richi got on my friggin' nerves ont this one too and was just a really lame love story that I won't go into details with...
This doesn't deserve 5 stars BUT it does deserve 5 stars for Garbage...Cause that is what this film is...
Peace
Rating:
Summary: Not really about the movie per se
Review: Well, in case anyone was looking to buy Emiliana Torrini's version of "If you go away" on cd, it can be found on "Next: Tribute to Jacques Brel". The cd costs $38 without shipping and is an import. The cd contains what appears to be covers of old Jacques Brel songs. I haven't heard of the majority of these songs or for that matter Jacques Brel, but when I listened to them all I liked them except for one or two. There's some really good stuff on the cd, so if you want the Emiliana track and don't mind shelling out the money, don't be worried about the rest of the tracks sucking. In case anyone was wondering, the song is the one that's sung when Christina Ricci's character is leaving school towards the end of the film. Oh, and the movie was pretty good.
Rating:
Summary: I deserve 5 stars for watching this piece of trash
Review: This is one of the stupidest movies I have ever seen. What in the world was Christina Ricci thinking when she agreed to do this film?
The movie starts off well enough, and the story is a good one. A girl living a known quantity as a sorority girl, thrown out of orbit one day by the unexpected introduction into her pristine world of a boy who is supposed to be mentally retarded. I say "supposed to be" because his acting is attrocious, and his character's retardation is mild at best, if it exists at all. His biggest problem seems to be his inability to stand up for more than five minutes. Again, the idea was good, and one that could have made for a delightful, heart-warming, lesson-teaching film.
Instead what we are treated to is a two hour festival of bad acting, terrible writing, ultra-corny lines, and character development that proceeds in jerks and starts, leaving the viewer utterly unable to believe in or identify with the characters.
As the movie neared the mid-point, I was prepared to give it two stars. Oh, how wrong I was. The last hour of the movie is a downward spiral into near ad-hock scenes. One minute Ricci's character tries to kill herself, and the next day agrees to re-join the sorority and go to the dance with her boyfriend whom the day before she had told she was leaving. At the dance, the "retarded" boy shows up with his "retarded" friends, at which point Kent, her boyfriend/date, decides he's going to fight the "retarded" kid. They go outside, the "retarded" kid wins, and Kent drives off in a blind rage, ultimately driving his car off a cliff as that scene is contrasted against that of Ricci and the "retarded" kid kissing back at the dance.
The pinnacle of absurdity in the film is when Kent's car flies off the cliff and bursts into flames *in mid-air*!! To ad insult to injury, the next day Ricci visits Kent in the hospital, and he's lying in the hospital bed without a burn on his body.
The predictable irony is that Kent is now handicapped. It is at this point that one senses that the director almost completely gave up on any attempt at coherance. Kent sulks in his room, sitting in his wheel-chair, and after a visit from the "retarded" kid, appears as the coach of the "retarded" atheletes the very next day, saying such knee-slapping one liners as: "I can see who the better man is. She's all yours.", offering Ricci to the "retarded" boy as though she were property.
If this is a parody, then it is the worst kind of parody because it meanders between serious attempts at heart pangs, and gut wrenching groaners, and cartoonish scenes like the car blowing up and the fight between the jock and the "retarded" kid.
Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. Not surprisingly the director has this movie alone to his resume, and it shows.
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