At times, "Pumpkin" is a lot more like the vegetable and less like the character who provides the film with its name.
For instance, this low-rent — and even lower-wit — rip-off of the Farrelly brothers' oeuvre gets way too mushy — and in a relatively short amount of time.
Not that anyone but the cruelest of audiences would want to see a comedy about disabled people be more mean-spirited. But considering that there was a real opportunity here to explore how "normal" society is often uncomfortable with the disabled, this movie is something of a wimp-out.
To compound matters, it's nowhere near as funny as it thinks it is. (Not that it sinks to Tom Green depths of unfunniness, but it's perhaps the next rung down on the comedy ladder.)
The title character is Pumpkin Romanoff (Hank Harris), a disabled athlete participating in the Challenged Games, a Special Olympics-style competition. He's excited, but his "coach," college student Carolyn McDuffy (Christina Ricci) is not.
Carolyn has it all — a hunky boyfriend (Sam Ball), and is a popular member of the Alpha Omega Pi sorority, which is trying to court favor with the campus Greek Council by doing charity work. But now she finds herself in the position of coaching a disabled athlete.
To her surprise, Carolyn begins to enjoy Pumpkin's company, and she starts to experience romantic feelings toward him. Her sorority sisters (Dominique Swain and Marisa Coughlan) aren't exactly thrilled with this, and neither is Pumpkin's overprotective mother (played by over-the-top Brenda Blethyn).
How the filmmaking team of Adam Larsen Broder and Tony R. Abrams managed to stretch this thin premise to nearly two hours is anyone's guess (the story is obviously padded). And as the title character, Harris can't seem to decide exactly how severe his disability really is — sometimes he appears to be wheelchair-bound, and then he's walking around with little or no trouble.
Frankly, the best thing this film has going for it is the always-watchable Ricci, who surely deserves better material.
"Pumpkin" is rated R for scenes of simulated sex and other sexual contact, occasional use of strong, sexually related profanity, crude sexual slang terms and sex talk, male and female nudity, and violence (vehicular and a scuffle). Running time: 113 minutes.
E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com