keelhaul-80856
This movie is so bizarre LOL. I have seen it several times on TV over the years, and I was always lost. Now, I think I kind of get the direction they were taking this in, but it is still strange. I give it 3 stars for originality, and making my family laugh heartily at several parts. I think they leave this ambiguous on purpose, upon further inspection, because I used to just think the writers were weird fruitcakes, and the movie was utter garbage. It is still really stupid, and doesn't quite work, but again, I can at least give them points for entertaining us with something that makes you go "What? What does this mean?" The funniest parts that kill the film, though are: 1)How does a sorority girl ever fall in love with a handicapped person?2)Why is this poor kid named Pumpkin?3)Romanoff makes us think of Romanov, which had me picturing the Russian Revolution and murder of the czar's family. Maybe that one is just weird on my part.4)Pumpkin seems to fluctuate between MENTALLY retarded and PHYSICALLY handicapped. This greatly diminishes other aspects of the story, and how to truly approach or understand the meaning of the material. This makes it funny in a stupid writing sort of way, instead of comedic way. For instance, at the start, Pumpkin can only sit in a wheelchair, barely throw a frisbee, and barely stand up or talk without falling over. Are we really to believe that a few weeks of loving moments from the girl suddenly gives him the ability to be punched 10 times, and throw a muscular college guy on the ground, attempt to drive cars, compete in the special olympics, have sex, ride a bus to find someone, or a myriad of other actions that his invalid former self couldn't do 40 mins. earlier?????? This leaves you wondering if the sorority girl is really in love with a mentally-challenged guy, a physically-challenged guy with a normal brain, or an alien mutant that assumes random forms of body and intelligence at will.5) Did they really all forget that they left a boy in a wheelchair on the beach, and leave to drive the fat girl(from Mike and Molly) all the way home, leaving him sunburned, at the mercy of the ocean or attackers????? So stupid I had to laugh.6)Would the tennis player dude really be mean to everyone, and then be that nice to the fat friend at the beach, and concerned over her feelings?7) The irony of the tennis player ending up in a wheelchair, and then coaching the special team?!?!?!?! Kind of brilliant, kind of idiotic.8)The suspension of disbelief is just beyond ridiculous. A sorority girl sneaks into a retarded guy's bedroom to bang him, and then ruins her sorority sisters' chances of winning SOY awards? The premise of sorority airheads was very true, and comical, but they kind of use it to the extreme. 9)Why are neighbors lined up on the streets of Christina Ricci's community when she drops out of college. Do random people know when you are driving up to talk to your mom and about dropping out of school? This scene is really hilarious in a subtle way.10) Does a college, community, or sorority really give a damn if you do stupid stuff and drop out of the club or school??? They acted like they would really put on an intervention for this girl to get her back to the campus because everyone needed her so badly to win prestigious awards and hold up the pillars of the college society on campus. Most people would have already appointed a new chick to run things and just moved on.11)Everyone in the movie looks like they are from anther era in time, and Pumpkin's expressions are just idiotic. He goes from not being able to do anything, to being able to talk and play sports and fight.12)NONE OF THIS WOULD EVER HAPPEN ANYWHERE IN A MILLION YEARS!!!!!!!!This is funny, but so stupid on so many levels. I hope that was the point, because the meandering from dark comedy, to tragedy, to drama, to satire, to action, to fantasy-- and back again, throughout the film, really leaves you like WTF???? Plus, I would have rated it higher if the film was shorter. It feels like torture and punishment after the first hour or so. The run time for something this awkward and experimental should not be so grueling and drawn out. You get the whole point 100 times, long before the movie ends. The 1st half is funny; the 2nd is just moronic.
rokcomx
I stumbled across this tonight, never having heard of it and without looking up its premise - I've never said "What the f#ck?!" out loud so many times in my life (tho the two hours I spent suffering thru No Country For Old Men comes close).The movie plays like an acid flashback, becoming increasingly surreal as the dialogue goes from weird to bugfuggen insane. BUT, once I realized just how hard my leg was being pulled - and became resigned to having my limb then pulled off and used to beat my brains in - I grew to appreciate the satire, wit, and utterly inappropriate insanity. Somewhere between Heathers, Jawbreaker, the Forbidden Zone, and Richard O'Brien's Shock Treatment, that's where you'll find Pumpkin.Along with a lot of DVD and TV browsers muttering "What the f#ck?!?!"
U_Dub_20
By far the worst movie I've ever seen. This movie took every stereotype known to man kind and tried to dispel it. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that their intentions were paved in gold, but it was just too much. The only thing that kept us watching it was the thought that at some point in time the movie would get better, but nope, never happened. The movie ended and never before had the three of us wished we could have that time back.It would have been one thing if the movie was even remotely believable, but it was so far stretched that even if they had tapered off on some the points they tried to make, it still wouldn't have hit home. Best way to describe it is like applying makeup, the more natural it looks the better, but if it's gobbed on and the lipstick is too red and too thick, you don't want to go near it.
