How to Eat Fried Worms (film)

How to Eat Fried Worms
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Bob Dolman
Screenplay by	Bob Dolman
Based on	How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
Produced by	Mark Johnson Philip Steuer
Starring	Luke Benward Adam Hicks James Rebhorn Kimberly Williams-Paisley Tom Cavanagh
Cinematography	Richard Rutkowski
Edited by	Janice Hampton Frederick Wardell
Music by	Mark Mothersbaugh Bob Mothersbaugh
Production company	Walden Media
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date	August 25, 2006 (2006-08-25)
Running time	84 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$13.1 million[1]

How to Eat Fried Worms is a 2006 American family black comedy film written and directed by Bob Dolman and produced by Mark Johnson and Philip Steuer with music by Mark Mothersbaugh and Robert Mothersbaugh. It is loosely based on Thomas Rockwell's 1973 children's book of the same name. It was also produced by Walden Media, and distributed by New Line Cinema.

Development began in 1998, and the theatrical release for the United States and Canada was August 25, 2006. The film stars Luke Benward, Adam Hicks, Hallie Eisenberg, Austin Rogers, Andrew Gillingham, Alexander Gould, Blake Garrett, and Philip Daniel Bolden. The film received mixed reviews from critics.

Plot[]

Billy Forrester has a weak stomach and vomits easily. He and his parents, Mitch, Helen, and his little brother, Woody, have just moved to a new town. Billy tells his mother he doesn't want to go to school because he will be "the new kid". She assures him he will make friends and everything will be okay.

Billy becomes the target of the school bully, Joe Guire, his two "toaders" named Plug and Bradley, and the rest of his gang: Benjy, Techno-Mouth, Twitch, and Donny. Plug and Bradley steal Billy’s lunch box. Billy sits behind Erika Tansy, an unusually tall girl whom people make fun of.

At lunch, Billy opens his thermos and pours out a pile of live earthworms that Plug and Bradley had put inside. Sickened, he almost vomits. Joe asks Billy if he eats worms. Billy says "I eat them all the time", then throws a worm at Joe's face. A nerd named Adam Simms was sure that Joe was going to punch Billy with "The Death Ring"; it is rumored that whoever Joe punches it with dies in 8th grade.

Joe, Plug, and Benjy catch up with Billy as he heads home. Joe proposes a bet: Billy will eat ten worms on the coming Saturday without throwing up, or he will have to walk around the school with worms in his pants. Billy knows that he cannot back out of the bet, so he accepts.

The next day, Billy is teamed up with Adam. While they cook the first worm "Le Big Porker" in the park they are chased by a park ranger for using a grill without adult supervision. While cooking the second and third worms, "The Greasy Brown Toad Bloater Special," at Adam's uncle Ed's restaurant, the Brown Toad, Ed kicks them out for having the worms in his restaurant. After Billy eats the fourth worm, "The Burning Fireball," and burns his mouth, Twitch and Techno-Mouth quit Joe's team and become his new best friends. Billy, Techno-Mouth, Twitch, and Adam then go to a convenience store. They find Adam playing Dance Dance Revolution, and one of the boys spills his drink, causing the machine to blow up and they get kicked out. At the playground, Billy eats the next three worms, "Magni-Fried," "Barfmallo," and "Peanut Butter and Worm Jam Sandwich."

After dinner, the boys go to a bait shop, where Billy eats the next two worms, "The Green Slusher" and "Radioactive Slime Delight," while the owner is out, but her unexpected return leads to her briefly chasing them for breaking into her bait shop. After Joe cheats in an attempt to keep Billy from eating the last worm, "Worm A La Mud," all of his gang leaves and joins Billy's team. Billy eats the final worm before the deadline. Nigel Guire, Joe's brother, tries to bully and humiliate Joe; but Billy and the rest of the gang stand up for him, telling Nigel to leave him alone, and he leaves.

After thinking it over that night, Billy returns to school. He explains to Joe that the second worm was eaten by their principal, Burdock, when Adam accidentally put it in his omelet at the Brown Toad. They are then interrupted by Burdock, who nearly catches them when a worm falls out of Billy's pants, which Joe covers up with his shoe. After Burdock returns to his office, the kids all run outside and celebrate as Billy and Joe both take the worms out of their pants and throw them into the air.

Cast[]

Differences from the book[]

Though the film and the book share the concept about a bet between boys to eat earthworms, the nature of the situation differs significantly. In the book, the characters consist of four boys who are friends hanging around during the summertime. Billy has to eat fifteen worms in fifteen days, and the terms of the bet are fifty dollars, which he intends to use to buy a dirt bike.

Many of the film's subplots, that he is new in school, that Joe is a bully, that Billy has a weak stomach, and that Joe threatens him with a Death Ring, do not appear in the book. Unlike in the film, his parents eventually find out about the bet, which he ultimately wins instead of tying. All the worms he eats in the book are nightcrawlers, and Erika, the girl who helps him in the film, is not introduced until the book's sequel, How to Fight a Girl.

Reception[]

Box office[]

The film debuted at #11, with $4,003,537 in the United States and Canada. It closed seven weeks later, with a total of $13,040,527 domestically, and $55,787 overseas, for a worldwide total of $13,096,314.^[1]

Critical reception[]

The film mostly received mixed-to-positive reviews. Rotten Tomatoes shows the film as being "Fresh" with a 61% rating. The site's consensus reads: "This Fear Factor for kids is good-natured and tasty enough." Metacritic gave the film a metascore of 56 (mixed or average reviews).

The Filthy Critic gave the film four out of five "fingers" for its realistic portrayal of how children act. ReelViews' James Berardinelli gave a mildly positive review (2½ stars out of 4) but thought the potential audience too narrow: "It's aimed at pre-teen males and doesn't make many concessions to members of other demographics." He went on to say:

How to Eat Fried Worms belongs to a vanishing breed – live action family films. Even the best of the genre (like Holes and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) don't draw large audiences, so mediocre productions like this one face an uphill struggle.^[2]

The Boston Globe's reviewer – Ty Burr – gave it a 2 stars out of 4 and said when comparing the book to the film:

There's a kid named Billy, and he eats worms on a dare, and that's about all the movie has in common with its source. Truth to tell, that's all the movie needs to have in common with its source. "This is really disgusting," my 9-year-old's friend whispered to her during the screening. Then he added, "But I like it."
From a parent's viewpoint, two feet higher off the ground, How to Eat Fried Worms is lackadaisical stuff, easily the least of the unpretentious children's book adaptations produced by family-oriented Walden Media (Because of Winn-Dixie, Hoot, Holes).^[3]

Home media release[]

How to Eat Fried Worms was released on DVD on December 5, 2006, by Warner Home Video through subsidiary New Line Home Entertainment.

Accolades[]

Soundtrack[]

• "The Tide Is High" – Performed by Matthew Sweet
• "Gone" – Performed by All Too Much
• "Baby Beluga" – Performed by Ty Panitz
• "Human Hands" – Written and Performed by Joe Mannix, Chris Peck, Bob Bruchu and Ed Fingerling
• "Get Ready for This" – Performed by 2 Unlimited
• "3 Little Bird" – Performed by Hallie Kate Eisenberg and Ty Panitz
• "Rocket Full of Power" – Performed by The Wipeouters
• "Move Your Feet" – Performed by Junior Senior
• "Jungle Boogie" – Performed by Kool & The Gang
• "Yum Yum Yum" – Performed by Mark Mothersbaugh, Robert Mothersbaugh (as Bob Mothersbaugh) and Bob Casale

References[]

Sources[]

• celebritywonder.com Accessed June 18, 2008.

External links[]

• How to Eat Fried Worms at IMDb
• How to Eat Fried Worms at Box Office Mojo
• How to Eat Fried Worms at Rotten Tomatoes
• How to Eat Fried Worms at Metacritic