You would think a documentary about a pumpkin grower (Bill Foss in this case) attempting to grow the biggest pumpkin in Minnesota history would be fairly boring. You would be partially right. It’s not that the subject matter isn’t interesting. It’s that the film is handled with all the finesse of a PBS special.
Bill Foss has grown record breaking pumpkins before, and here he shows you how to wow judges at the fair. Unfortunately, that sense of excitement is really lacking in the film. Of course, one wonders how exciting you could make a documentary about pumpkin growing, but I would hope it would be better than this.
The people involved in this endeavor will probably love it. They have reason to be proud, as the film isn’t horrible, and the filmmakers aren’t inept. Trying to find viewers who will just pick this up to watch will be fairly difficult, however. Nothing about it screams, “You must see this!” (Though my copy of the DVD came with a giant pumpkin seed that I may plant, so it has that going for it.)
There is one potential viewing group who would benefit from this movie, however: people who want to grow large pumpkins. If you are one of those people, this movie will run you through the process step-by-step, as Foss is more interested in sharing his knowledge than he is in keeping it secret. I can’t think of a better film to watch on the subject, and it would probably be in your best interest to at least convince your library to get a copy. And if you aren’t in that group? Well, you stopped reading a long time ago.
