Pumpkin

You've got to hand it to Christina Ricci: one of the finest actors of her generation, she (like kindred misfit spirit Johnny Depp) steadfastly follows her quirky muse. Unfortunately, she's ill-served by this black comedy that cries out for John Waters' flair for melodramatic outrageousness. Ricci stars as Carolyn McDuffy, a shiny, happy member of the Stepfordian sorority Alpha Omega Pi. Locked in a pitched battle for Sorority of the Year, the AOP's decide to volunteer for a really "killer charity," the Challenged Games. Carolyn mentors the gangly, wheelchair-bound Pumpkin (Hank Harris) and, much to the disbelief and scorn of her airhead sorority sisters and big man on campus boyfriend, falls in love with him. The script goes for the obvious and the overwrought, the performances are broad, and the comedy, which is based on embarrassment and cruelty, never achieves the level of something like Heathers, which was more dead-on in its subversive satire of cliques. Not recommended. (K. Lee Benson)