The names behind the wickedly funny and satirical new film "Pumpkin" are impressive. Among the movie's producers are Francis Ford Coppola and Christina Ricci, who also stars. Also involved is Andrea Sperling, who produced "But I'm A Cheerleader," which relies on a similarly biting acidic wit.
Carolyn McDuffy (Ricci) is perfect. She comes from a perfect Pasadena family and she is the envy of all the girls on the Southern California State University campus because she's dating the school's handsome and successful tennis champ, Kent Woodlands (Sam Ball). She's the also the star of her sorority, AOPi, which lives forever in the shadow of the sorority across the street, populated by leggy blondes.
{INSERT_RELATED}With the new school year, the AOPi girls have set their sights on the coveted SOY (Sorority of the Year) honor. They plan to do it by getting a pair of coveted new recruits (an African-American girl and a Filipino girl who will help boost their diversity) and by picking a jewel of a charity: Riverside County's physically and mentally handicapped athletes who will participate in the upcoming Challenged Games. The girls -- all of whom are white save Anne Chung, who is clearly a second-class sister, welcomed solely for diversity's sake -- will be assigned an athlete to coach in their sport.
Carolyn is horrified to be assigned the wheelchair-bound Pumpkin Romanoff (Hank Harris), whose overprotective mother (Brenda Blethyn) is also obsessed with the Challenged Games and is in constant competition with another mother for dominance over the event.
Of course, 15-year-old Pumpkin falls immediately and madly in love with the pretty Carolyn and as the picture progresses, Carolyn's revulsion turns to attraction creating conflict with her boyfriend, her sorority sisters, with Pumpkin's mother, with the school, with her family and, often, with herself.
Pumpkin is similarly transformed as his crush causes him to begin to walk more and do all sorts of things he couldn't, or wouldn't, previously try.
There are countless funny moments in the film and the satire is nearly constant. But there's also a sweet love story and one that preaches the inner beauty of people. However, writers Adam Larson Broder and his co-director Tony R. Abrams (they guys behind 1998's "Dead Man on Campus) don't seem to really want to make a message picture, always undermining the sugary moments.
The result is that "Pumpkin" is smart, sometimes silly, always acidic and often funny in a way that makes us ashamed to laugh. In the end, I liked it.
"Pumpkin" opens Fri., Aug. 16 at Landmark's Downer Theatre.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
