Growing the Big One (2010) Reviews

• Reborn in the Pumpkin Patch

  boblipton2010-10-24

  Shannen Doherty's grandfather has died and left her the farm..... with a big mortgage that is about to come due. She is also undergoing great stress at work, where she has just been reassigned from a talk radio show on urban living to gardening, and her goal for the movie is to grow the world record pumpkin using her grandfather's seeds and win enough money to pay off that mortgage. This pleasantly mild Hallmark channel romantic comedy is a very decently executed woman's movie, and the performances are certainly competent -- although I am a bit tired of the seemingly uniform direction of urban women as rather brittle and the writing does not permit any overwhelmingly interesting performance. Still, the scenery is pretty, the story while predictable, is nice, the jokes match the venue and the result is a very pleasant time-waster.

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• Just Cute - Nice time waster

  redjennger2010-10-24

  Shannon Doherty is radio host Emma Silver who has inherited Grandpa Silver's farm - and it's mortgage. She moves into the farm house in the little country town and begins to sort out "what's next for Emma," meets the townsfolk and learns about the Giant Pumpkin raising contest. Romantic lead Kavan Smith (Seth)shows up PDQ. Handsome Stanford Grad Seth runs a fix-it shop and decided Emma's heart could use his kind of fixing.Plus, he wants to help her raise the prize-winning punkin:) Typical fish-out-of water jokes though the women of the town who take Doherty's character under their collective wing have some funny moments. If someone other than Shannon Doherty like Carla Guigino or another younger/more vulnerable actor had played Emma it would probably have been better. Shannon is just too long in the tooth for a role like this. As good as she was in Charmed she just doesn't play damsel in distress very well.

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• "If a truckload of manure won't do it, I don't know what will."

  utgard142014-07-27

  Radio talk-show host Emma Silver (Shannen Doherty) inherits a pumpkin farm from her late grandfather. She doesn't plan to keep the farm but the new manager of her radio station comes up with the idea of Emma hosting a gardening show from the farm, as well as enter Emma into the town's pumpkin-growing contest. She knows nothing about gardening or pumpkins, however, so she is forced to rely on her new neighbor (Kavan Smith) for help. If you guessed these two will have a "will they/won't they" thing going on, welcome to Hallmark. Predictable and sometimes cheesy made-for-TV movie. The cast is very likable. I enjoyed Shannen a lot in this. Kavan Smith is good also and has nice chemistry with Shannen, despite his rather unfortunate haircut. The rest of the cast is made up of "whozzat" actors, most of whom I'm not familiar with but I'll assume are Canadian. The most lasting impression left by any of them is that of April Telek -- hubba hubba! It's a slight but fun movie that left a grin on my face, which is all you can ask for with something from Hallmark. Oh and if you think that they went the whole movie without once using the title as a double entendre, think again.

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• A sweet story with gorgeous scenery, improbable events

  inkblot112012-03-12

  Emma Silver (Shannen Doherty) is an afternoon radio host with a nice following in the Seattle area. One day, however, bad news arrives. Her grandfather, Emma's closest living relative, has died. Traveling to the Washington State countryside to his pumpkin farm, for the funeral, she is overcome with emotion. After the services, his lawyer informs her that she has inherited the farm but, due to her grandmother's long illness years before, the estate is heavily mortgaged. Sadly, Emma may not have the money to keep it afloat. Then, back in Seattle, the young lady gets another jolt. Her general manager has been fired and the new one is taking Emma out of her usual program and placing her in a new show that is about growing plants. As Em tells this GM about her pumpkin farm, the show evolves into a "report from the field" and the town's annual Largest Pumpkin Contest. Since her grandpa left Emma his precious seeds and the prize money could help save the farm, the life changes seem to be working out. However, another neighbor, Seth (Kavan Smith) will also be trying to grab the monetary winnings for his own aspirations. Also, since Emma and Seth are both single, will the pumpkin competition prevent a love story from happening? This is a sweet, light romance with nice stars and a family friendly presentation. The rural Washington scenery is one of the best things the film has going for it, too, being very lovely. However, the costume designer makes some strange choices, with Emma's funeral dress resembling more of the cocktail variety and Doherty sporting other rather bizarre outfits, too. Script and direction are acceptable but the storyline does have some implausible aspects as well, from radio station matters to farming. Nevertheless, all fans of romantic comedy or drama will find this a nice choice for an evening's view.

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