How to Eat Fried Worms is a 2006 film based on the 1973 children's book of the same name by Thomas Rockwell. It was produced by New Line Cinema with Walden Media. Development began in 1998 and theatrical release for the U.S. and Canada was 25 August 2006. The DVD for the film was released on 5 December 2006.
Plot
At the beginning of the film, it is shown that a young, naive boy named Billy Forrester (Luke Benward), the main protagonist, gets sick (vomits) very easily. Then, it shows that he has moved from his town with his parents, Mr. Forrester (Tom Cavanagh and Mrs. Forrester Kimberly Williams-Paisley), and his little toddler brother, Woody Forrester (Ty Panitz). After they move into their new house, Billy tells his mother that he doesn't want to go to school, because he will be "the new kid", but his mother tells Billy that he will make new friends and that everything will be okay. But when Billy arrives at school (riding on his bicycle), Joseph "Joe" Guire (Adam Hicks), the main antagonist, and his gang, Benjy (Ryan Malgarini), Bradley (Philip Daniel Bolden), Plug (Blake Garrett), Techno-Mouth (Andrew Gillingham), and Twitch (Alexander Gould) rudely stare at Billy and call him "Billy F. (which is Billy's name, written on his lunch box)." Plug and Bradley eventually steal Billy's lunch box. They come back to the classroom, acting more-or-less normal. Principal Burdock (James Rebhorn) tells Plug and Bradley that they are late. Plug and Bradley then freeze. Principal Burdock tells them to get to their seats. Plug shrugs, and he and Bradley get to their seats. Principal Burdock asks Billy if he would write his name on the board. . Billy sits in back of Erika Tansy (Hallie Kate Eisenberg), an unusually tall girl, whom people make fun of (they call her "Erk"). At lunch, Billy is about to eat when Plug tells him, "Have a delicious lunch.".
Billy opens his water bottle and pours out a pile of live earthworms. Sickened, Billy almost vomits before regaining strength. Then, confident, Billy throws a worm on Joe's face. The class starts laughing. Joe tells someone to get the worm off of him, and Bradley takes it off. A boy named Adam Simms (Austin Rogers) was sure that Joe was going to smash Billy with his ring ("The Death Ring").
The next day, after school, Joe (riding on his motorcycle), Plug, and Benjy (riding on their bicycles) catch up with Billy on their bicycles, as he rides home on his bicycle. Infuriated, Billy gets angry at Joe. Joe shoots back, and he and Billy make a bet: Billy must eat all 10 worms in one day (this Saturday) without throwing up, and the loser has to come to school with worms in his pants (and they have to walk down the hall, past everybody). Joe tells Billy that "it is going to be him". Billy, outraged, knows that he can't squeeze out of the bet, so he accepts with a confident tone.
The next day, Billy frightfully tries to get ready. Billy was teamed up with Adam Simms. After eating the first worm, Billy slowly becomes more confident with each worm, that he swallows. After Billy eats the fourth worm ("The Burning Fireball"), Twitch and Techno-Mouth (along with Adam, who "wants" to be on Billy's team) quit Joe's team and become Billy's new best friends.
After Joe cheats in an attempt to keep Billy from eating the final worm in time, all of Joe's gang join Billy's team. After eating the last worm (2 seconds before the deadline), Billy and his team shout in victory. Nigel Guire (Nick Krause), Joe's brother, who has been watching, tries to bully and humiliate Joe for losing. Billy and the rest of the gang stand up for Joe, tells Nigel to leave Joe alone, and Nigel leaves, riding his bicycle (he calls Billy and the gang "little losers").
After thinking it over that night, Billy returns to school. He explains to Joe that the second worm was eaten by Burdock after it was accidentally put in his omelet at the Greasy Brown Toad. Since both Billy and Joe lost the bet, they both put worms in their pants. The film ends with (as shown in order in the movie) Benjy, Techno-Mouth (named "Techno," instead), Bradley, Plug, Donny, Twitch, Adam, Erika, Joe, Woody, and Billy (named "Wormboy," instead) are shown in the outtakes and scenes from the movie and in colored pictures of them, dancing with them, and everyone in Billy's school start cheering and jumping with happiness.
Cast
Development
How to Eat Fried Worms had a long filmmaking history,[1] from before 1998 through 2006. Initially, Universal Pictures selected Thomas Schlamme to direct the movie based on a screenplay adaptation by John August.[1] The rights to the movie were sold in exchange for the cost of development and the rights ended up at Nickelodeon Films in 1998.[1] In November 1998, the film was in development.[2] Three months later, in February 1999, Schlamme indicated that a film version of the children's story How to Eat Fried Worms still was in development.[3] In April 1999, August indicated that he still was working on adapting the books "How to Eat Fried Worms" for Nickelodeon.[4] By June 2000, Nickelodeon had selected Joe Nussbaum to direct How to Eat Fried Worms, which would have made Worms Nussbaum's feature directorial debut.[1] At this same time in 2000, Bob Dolman had taken over rewriting the screenplay.[1] Five years later, in May 2005, casting began for the movie and Dolman was noted as being the writer and director of How to Eat Fried Worms.[5] Dolman officially was announced as the director on June 1, 2005.[6]
Production
Zilker Elementary School in Austin was one of the primary locations for the film.
Shooting for the film started late July 2005 in Texas.[6][7] In August 2005, the offices of Eat a Worm Prods., the producers of How to Eat Fried Worms, were located at 400 Nueces St. in Austin, Texas.[8]
The movie was filmed in a variety of location in and around Austin: Zilker Elementary School, the Travis Heights neighborhood and Stacy Park, the Northwest Hills neighborhood, Austin Studios, Blue Hole swimming hole in Wimberley and the Austin Diner. The 1st Unitarian Church, which played Woody’s pre-school; the Onion Creek Country Club, where the parents played tennis; and Highway 21 in Bastrop County (Billy’s queasy stomach).
The film opened in the U.S. and Canada to 1,870 screens on 25 August 2006[9]
A real
earthworm, which was simulated in the film when shown being cooked or eaten.
A recurring question regarding the production of the film is whether any of the actors in fact ate real worms. Kimberly Williams-Paisley (Mrs. Forrester) indicates that the worms eaten in the movie were not in fact real worms: "I had a great time making 'How to Eat Fried Worms.'... The movie's got a lot of messiness in it. One of the kids had to put a real worm in his mouth. And one of the other kids actually threw up from all of it."[10] Luke Benward (Billy "Wormboy" Forrester) later indicated that he put a live worm in his mouth for about 10 seconds for one scene.[11] A press release subsequently was issued to indicate that no worms were harmed in the filming.[11] The movie did use real worms that were kept in temperature-controlled containers, but used gummy worms and other gelatin forms as fake edible worms.[11] The real worms were considered stunt worms who had rubber worms as stand-ins in those situation where it was important to "keep the (worm) stars out of the heat for as long as possible to preserve the energy of their performances."[11]
Distribution
The film opened in the U.S. and Canada to 1,870 screens on August 25, 2006[9] The DVD was released four months later, on December 5, 2006.[12]
Box office
The film debuted at number 11 with $4 million in U.S and Canada. It closed seven weeks later with a total of $13 million in U.S. and Canada. The film was banned in Malaysia for unknown reasons.[13]
Reception
- The Filthy Critic gave the film four out of five "fingers" for its realistic portrayal of how children really act.
- Rotten Tomatoes shows the film as being rotten with a 58% rating.
- Metacritic gave the film a metascore of 56 (mixed or average reviews).
ReelViews' James Berardinelli gave a mildly positive review (2 1/2 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." and 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.[14]
The Boston Globe's reviewer - Ty Burr- gave it a 2 stars out of 4 and said when comparing the book to the movie:
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).[15]
Differences from the book
Though the movie and the book share the conceit 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 Billy intends to use to buy a mini-bike. Many of the movie's subplots--that Billy 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, Billy's parents eventually find out about the bet, which Billy ultimately wins instead of tying. All the worms Billy eats in the book are Nightcrawlers, and Erika, the girl who helps Billy in the film, is not introduced until the book's sequel, How to Fight a Girl.
References
- ^ a b c d e Kit, Zorianna. (June 21, 2000) Hollywood Reporter Nussbaum has line on 'Worms'. Volume 363; Issue 30; Page 1.
- ^ Churnin, Nancy. (November 30, 1998) The Dallas Morning News 'Babe' director squelches rumors. Section: Today; Page 3C.
- ^ Chetwynd, Josh. (February 26, 1999) USA Today Six directors who make series shine. Section: Life. Page 9E.
- ^ Dretzka, Gary. (April 9, 1999) Chicago Tribune Give the credit -- or the blame -- to 'Go's' screenwriter. Section: Tempo. Page 2.
- ^ Back Stage West (May 26, 2005) Currently casting. Volume 12; Section: 22; Page 36.
- ^ a b Market Wire (June 1, 2005) New Line Cinema and Walden Media Option and Greenlight Gran Via Productions and Imagine Entertainment Film "How to Eat Fried Worms." Bob Dolman Tapped to Direct and Write Screenplay for Adaptation of Thomas Rockwell Classic.
- ^ Adalian, Josef. (July 27, 2005) Daily Variety Par TV tunes in pic player. Section: News; Page 1.
- ^ Daily Variety (August 12, 2005) Film production chart Section: News; Page 8.
- ^ a b How to Eat Fried Worms @ Box Office Prophets
- ^ The Sun Herald (July 25, 2006) Say what? Section: B; Page B5.
- ^ a b c d Bitting, Diane M. (August 17, 2006) Lancaster New Era How to Eat Fried Worms - and build an acting career. Page A5.
- ^ Washington Post (December 7, 2006) DVDs Available Now.
- ^ [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=howtoeatfriedworms.htm HOW TO EAT Feet WORMS @ Box Office Mojo]
- ^ How to Eat Fried Worms A Film Review by James Berardinelli
- ^ How to Eat Fried Worms Movie Review The hook of `Worms' is boy gross-out appeal by Ty Burr
External links
