Movie Nation

Gather round, ladies and gents, “boys and gourds,” for a Scots-flavored tale of a little girl who communes with plants.

“Grow” is a cute-aiming-for-cutesie comedy about Halloween, a pumpkin growing contest and learning to “go organic” because that’s what the plants tell you they prefer.

High stakes competitive pumpkining can lead to all sorts of chicanery, and since director John McPhail gave us “Anna and the Apocalypse,” keep an eye peeled for a pumpkin “Psycho” murder and a “Godfather” touch in where one dead gourd winds up.

But most of the giggles here are from a Brit Comic Who’s Who supporting cast of Jane Horrocks, Tim McInnerny, Jeremy Swift and Alan Carr. And there’s Nick Frost, nipping at your nose for good measure.

Priya Rose-Brookwell is Charlie, an impish orphan determined to get to L.A. because she’s sure that’s where her Mum ran off to, “to be the new Wonder Woman.” The System has just about given up on her when they finally turn up her one blood relative.

Aunt Dina (Golda Rosheuvel of “Bridgerton”) is a struggling farmer up Mugford way, where her Little Farm is the only holdout not growing cucurbitaceae in “The Pumpkin Capital of the World.”

No, it’s not the “real” pumpkin capital. But it’s quaint and Scottish and the locals say “Oy!” a lot, especially to anybody who wants to know their personal jumbo-growth pumpkin growing secrets.

Charlie has this special connection to plants, and she figures the £100,000 prize could get her to LA to search for the mother who ran out on her. So why not swipe some seeds, ask around for “tips,” memorize the English measuring system from pounds to stone to tonnes, and have a go?

Aunt Dina is no help, and her lazy hired hand (Joe Wilkinson) would rather teach her his dangerous chores (herbiciding the weeds) than answer her questions about pumpkins.

A classmate’s (Dominic McLaughlin) ag-chemical dad (Jeremy Swift) figures pumpkin growing in the lab is best for weight if one wants to break the “one tonne” barrier.

But the idle rich neighbors, the Smythe-Gerkins (Horrocks and McInnerny) have their own methods, and have been winning the contest for generations.

There’s nothing for it but for Dina to introduce Charlie to organic woodlands weirdo Arlo (Frost) who lives in an ancient caravan (camper) in the forest. The kid who communes with and finesses the flora convinces him to pitch in.

A “descended from greatness” seed is selected and planted, a vine sprouts and “Peter” the pumpkin is named and nurtured towards annual Big Contest at the Mugford’s fall fair.

The script isn’t a laugh a minute, but it has its charms. The messaging about how pumpkins are like people, “It’s not how they look that matters, it’s what’s inside” is obvious but soft-sold.

The kid has a great grasp of the acting craft and holds her own with her esteemed co-stars.

And the pumpkin sabotage scenes are funny, punny and worthy of “Wallace & Gromit.”

Live-action kid-friendly fare like “Grow” is a rare thing, these days, especially at the height of Horror Season. Better grab the tykes and dash off to this before the last “pumpkin spice” lattes are served.

Rating: PG

Cast: Priya Rose-Brookwell, Golda Rosheuvel, Jane Horrocks, Tim McInnerney, Jeremy Swift, Dominic McLaughlin, Alan Carr and Nick Frost.

Credits: Directed by John McPhail, scripted by Nick Guthe, Ruth Fletcher and Christos N. Gage. A Sky production, a Fathom release.

Running time: 1:47

“Fall for Me” is a sexy German thriller flavored with mystery and intrigue and set on the Spanish vacation island of Mallorca.

Director Sherry Hormann (“A Regular Woman,” “Desert Flower”) and screenwriter Stephanie Sycholt (“Themba”) get the sex and the scenery right. Its the “mystery,” “intrigue” and “thrills” that are the picture’s undoing.

Lilli, played by Svenja Jung, is a sexy 30ish German bank auditor — because in Germany there are such creatures — who travels to Mallorca to check in on younger sister Valeria (Tijan Marei). Vale has big plans. She’s bought into the idea of buying and running a finca as an inn with her new fiance.

Manu (Victor Meutelet)? He’s ready for these big steps because A) he’s in love her Vale and B) he’s managing a local hotel.

But to realize their dreams, Vale needs Lilli to sign off on selling their late mother’s seaside acreage and run-down estate. Lilli the bank auditor starts to wonder if this deal is exactly what it seems.

But there’s this distractingly handsome bartender Tom (Theo Thebs) who turns out to be the manager of a chic local nightclub. Their flirtation is hot, turning hotter still, all in the space of one steamy night on the balcony of that very nightclub.

But Lilli’s cautious. One more time, “Bank auditor.” She’s curious about this fancy finca her sister and Manu arranged for her to stay in. She’s suspicious of Manu’s motives and questions her sister’s judgement. She wonders about the real estate broker (Thomas Kretschmann of “The Pianist”) Nick, who seems in a hurry to rush this deal through.

And then she meets Manu’s ex (Anje Traue) and the scheme and the movie’s plot and our investment in it start to unravel. She hasn’t forgotten about Tom, but if she can’t guess how he connects to all this, she’s a lot slower than your average Netflix viewer.

It must cost a fortune to film on Mallorca, in and around the Riviera-chic small city of Palma. So director Hormann gives us Edenic beaches and rocky cliffs above the gin-clear sea, in addition to posh homes, a hotel and a club.

Lots of cool, upscale places to make out. Because that’s where this romance novel of a mystery’s emphasis is.

The performers are (mostly) credible, even if the situations and reactions to them are not.

Damn this script is dumb. We’re meant to buy into some ongoing real-estate grift involving pretty boy honey pots, with all the principals tucked on a tiny island with nowhere to lay low or hide out after the grift.

Lilli makes accusations and walks into what’s sure to be dangerous situations heedless of her peril. The few twists are as subtle as Chekhov’s gun, which makes its entrance in the first act, sure to take a curtain call in the third, as if the screenwriter just learned about it and tries to apply it to her latest assignment.

According to her credits, the South African Sycholt peaked early and has made a living concocting crap for decades since.

As for her latest? Sexual allure be damned, be smarter than Lilli. Don’t fall for it.

Rating: TV-MA, violence, sex, nudity, profanity

Cast: Svenja Jung, Theo Thebs, Tijan Marei, Victor Meutelet, Antje Traue, Lucía Barrado and Thomas Kretschmann.

Credits: Directed by Sherry Hormann. scripted by Stephanie Sycholt. A Netflix release.

Running time: 1:45

Yeah, that’s a reach. This nature-at-its-most-monstrous thriller is played for twisted laughs, with Justin Long and Kate Bosworth as a couple trying to survive a pack’s attack on their privileged lives.

Brittany Allen and Norbert Leo Butz also star.

October 3.

A Vietnam Vet Neil Diamond “interpreter” meets his muse, the daughter of a Hudson Brother.

A “comeback” for Kate and for “Hustle & Flow” writer-director Craig Brewer?

As your friendly neighborhood Scarecrow might put it.

“JOY! RAPTURE!

This opens Christmas Day, and really, who had Hugh, the Greatest Triple Threat of his era, and Kate Hudson as the duet you needed for a little holiday cheer?

Kid friendly, with Nick Frost, Jane Horrocks and Tim McInnerny among the familiar faces in this Fathom Entertainment release set for Oct. 3.

Looks very cute, and the director did “Anna and the Apocalypse.” Worth a go, no?

Epic much?

Oct. 7.

There are no billionaires like Greek billionaires, right?

Vic Carmen Sonne, Emma Suárez, Elsa Lekakou and Maria Pau Pigem are the women at this “Welcome to my island” oligarch’s “family” and powerful friends birthday party.

Joe Cole plays “The Journalist,” a witness to everything that goes down.

It’s finishing its festival run. Theatrical? Or straight to streaming?

A monsignor is the murder victim in this third Rian Johnson/Daniel Craig whodunnit, with Cailee Spaeny, Thomas Haden Church, Josh O’Connor and Andrew Scott also on board.

Craig is plainly having his Best Post Bond Career, I do declare.

Nov. 26 in cinemas, Dec. 12 on Netflix.