How to Eat Fried Worms
Tags: cute, entertaining

Plot synopsis:
A young, naive boy named Billy Forrester (Luke Benward) has a weak stomach and vomits easily. He and his parents, Mitch (Tom Cavanagh), Helen (Kimberly Williams-Paisley), and his little brother, Woody (Ty Panitz), have just moved to a new town. Billy tells his mother that he doesn't want to go to school because he will be "the new kid". She assures him that he will make friends and everything will be okay.
At school, however, he becomes the target of the school bully, Joe Guire (Adam Hicks), his two "toaders" named Plug (Blake Garrett) and Bradley (Philip Daniel Bolden), and the rest of his gang: Benjy (Ryan Malgarini), Techno-Mouth (Andrew Gillingham), Twitch (Alexander Gould), and Donny (Alexander Agate). They rudely stare at him and call him "Billy F." (which is how his name is written on his lunch box). Plug and Bradley steal his lunch box. He sits behind Erika Tansy (Hallie Eisenberg), an unusually tall girl whom people make fun of (calling her "Erk").
At lunch, Billy opens his thermos and pours out a pile of live earthworms. Sickened, he almost vomits before regaining strength. Then, confident, he throws one on Joe's face. A nerd named Adam Simms (Austin Rogers) was sure that Joe was going to smash Billy with his ring ("The Death Ring"), which is rumored that whoever Joe punches it with dies in the eighth grade.
The next day after school, Joe, Plug, and Benjy catch up with Billy as he heads home. Joe proposes a bet: Billy must eat ten worms in one day (the coming Saturday) without throwing up, and the loser has to come to school with worms in his pants and walk down the hall past everybody. Billy knows that he cannot back out of the bet, so he accepts.
The next day, Billy is teamed up with Adam Simms. After eating the first worm, "Le Big Porker," the gang gets caught by a park security guard for using a grill in the park without adult supervision but outruns him. Billy becomes more confident with each worm that he swallows.
While cooking the second/third worm, "The Greasy Brown Toad Bloater Special," at Adam's uncle's (Clint Howard) restaurant, they get kicked out for having the worms in the restaurant. After Billy eats the fourth one, "The Burning Fireball," and burns his mouth, Twitch and Techno-Mouth quit Joe's team and become his new best friends. At the playground, Billy eats the next two worms, "Barfmallo," and "Peanut Butter And Worm Jam Sandwich."
After dinner, the boys go to a bait shop to eat their next two worms, "The Green Slusher" and "Radioactive Slime Delight." The owner of the bait shop (Jo Ann Farabee) tries to chase them for shoplifting the two worms. After Joe cheats in an attempt to keep Billy from eating the last worm, "Worm A La Mud," in time, all of his gang joins Billy's team. Billy eats the final worm before the deadline. Nigel Guire (Nick Krause), Joe's brother, who has been watching, tries to bully and humiliate him for losing. 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 Burdock after it was accidentally put in his omelet at the Brown Toad. Since they both lost the bet, they both put worms in their pants and the other kids watch them. They are then interrupted by Burdock, who nearly catches them when a worm falls out of Billy's pants, which Joe covers up. 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.

Review: It has extra appeal to boys and men who remember their childhood, but even women enjoy the film and especially Hallie Kate Eisenberg's refrain, "Boys are so weird." It's refreshing to see a film that unapologetically shows that boys and girls are indeed different in their emotional and social makeup.
We enjoyed the film so much that my son and an 11 year old friend, myself and my daughters 23 year old boyfriend went to see the movie the next day for a guys day out.
Once the bet is on, though, the movie picks up the pace as it's a race against time to see if a certain number of worms can be eaten by 7 pm.
We had a good opportunity on the way home to discuss some things with our son: bullies, helping others, mind over matter when you don't want to do something.Of special note is the girl who played Erica (Erk): Hallie Kate Eisenberg.
If she can get some more good roles she could have as good a career (or better?) than Haley Joel Osment, another three named kid actor, but hopefully without some of the problems that Osment has been in lately.Anywhozitz, according to my 8 y.o. son, who just finished reading the story, the film did not seem to follow the book all that well, but was entertaining none the less.
I remembered this as being one of my favorite books as a child and had been wanting to read it to my 5 year old daughter for a while now.
The only thing in common between the book and the movie is the main characters' first name, the fact that there is a bet, and a whole lot of worm eating.
How the kids know each other, the number of kids involved, how the bet came about, the number of worms that must be eaten, the time frame in which he has to eat the worms, how they are cooked, progression of friendships, climax scenes, etc., NOTHING is the same.
We all found it to be a very entertaining movie.When Billy goes to a new school, a fifth grade bully starts stuff with him and this is what leads to the eating of worms.A bet is made and Billy has only so much time to eat 10 worms or else.
From this point the bully and his friends try to come up with nasty ways to cook, fry or bake the worms to try and get Billy sick so that he will lose the bet.Billy stays strong and eats his way into becoming liked more and more by everyone, even the bullies friends.I wont tell you if he wins the bet or not...you will just need to watch it to find out but I will think that if you like good family movies you will like this one.P.S. Let me add that this movie is not just for boys, I have all daughters and they really liked it a lot..
Those with weak constitutions will have some difficulty since the "worms" are realistic enough to cause churning of more than a few in the audience.Tom Cavanagh and Hallie Kate Eisenberg stole the spotlight, but the young Ty Panitz could get some serious time on screen over the next few years.Miss Eisenberg has developed from a cute face into a strong young actress with charm and wonderful comic delivery.
If you like films about school bullies, brave children, hilarious toddlers and worm eating, then How to Eat Fried Worms will appeal to you.The film is about a boy named Billy, who when arriving on his first day at a new school, discovers that some of his classmates have played a prank on him by putting worms into his lunch.
The school bully, Joe and his "team" of friends start teasing Billy and calling him "worm boy".Billy decides to play along by saying that "he eats worms all the time".
Joe and his friends don't believe him but Billy assures them and bets Joe that he can eat ten worms in one day otherwise he will come to school with worms in his pants.The boys take Billy up on his bet, leaving the weak stomached child with a mission to gain respect from his classmates by eating worms cooked, fried, or alive.The film may sound gross but there are a lot of messages in it.
The child actors are the stars of this show, showing true emotion and feeling than most other children's movies portray.Some adults may not enjoy this film but kids will, perhaps even teenagers.There are hardly any other good movies on circuit at the moment, so if you're not in the mood to see snakes on a plane, try worms on a plate in How to Eat Fried Worms.
It is a feel good fun film and not just Fear Factor for kids..
This is the story of the "new" kid in town and it just so happens that there are a group of boys who have formed a club of sorts and love to pick on kids ....sound familiar?
I felt like instead of a movie ticket, I should have been given a NAMBLA membership.Based upon Thomas Rockwell's respected Book, How To Eat Fried Worms starts like any children's story: moving to a new town.
Once discovered, Billy plays it cool, swearing that he eats worms all the time.
To win them over, Billy reluctantly bets that he can eat 10 worms.
International leaders can learn a thing or two about global peacekeeping from Fried Worms.At the end of the film, I was comforted when two chaperoning mothers behind me, looked at each other with befuddlement and agreed, "That was a great movie." Great, now I won't have to register myself in any lawful databases..
A Kid's Movie that I actually enjoyed too!.
After being forced to sit through some real stinkers (Racing Stripes, Shark Boy and Lava Girl) -- I truly enjoyed watching "Fried Worms".
I eventually had to explain that sometimes the movies don't show the best solutions to the problems because it is more fun to watch what happens if they make the "silly" or "stupid" choices..
when it comes to the kid movie, i think of "12 and holding".
I remember reading it several times as a kid and was glad to see a movie had been made about the book.I was kid-sitting for a boy and a girl, ages 11 and 8 and had to talk the girl in to seeing the movie.
But happily, at the end, she was glad she saw it and even said that she wanted to buy it on DVD as soon as it came out.There were some great laugh-out-loud moments and the movie was not as "gross" as I expected it would be ...
When I watch films like this, I am looking for three things.
The story begins when a new kid named Billy (Luke Benward) moves to town.
They seemed to have a lot of fun with the strange story and ultimately I think kids will probably really enjoy it.
Billy is the new kid who accepts a dare by the school bully to eat 10 worms in a day.
The only reason why I watched this is because my brother read the book and wanted to see the movie.
I can't live without this movie and it thought me a very valuable life lesson on how one can eat a lot of worms.
Benward is the new kid in town and Hicks is the one leading a bullying squad against him.This all is because Benward spilled a can full of bait worms on the classroom floor.
Billy Forrester is the new kid in school.
Then Joe spreads the rumor that Billy said he eats worms.
The other kids are afraid of Joe. Erika is on his side but she gets bullied for being tall.This is an old fashion gross out kids movie.
The little kid inside of me had a lot of fun as the worms get eaten.
This is a sweet gross kids movie..
Squeamish 11-year-old Luke Benward (as Billy "Worm Boy" Forrester) moves to a new town.
Getting his gag reflex under control, Benward tosses a worm on freckle-faced bully Adam Hicks (as Joe Guire).
Director and former SCTV writer Bob Dolman promises, "No worms were harmed in the making of this movie." In a related note, SCTV star Andrea Martin has one funny scene.
Pre-teen kids into gross-outs should enjoy the film.**** How to Eat Fried Worms (8/25/06) Bob Dolman ~ Luke Benward, Adam Hicks, Hallie Kate Eisenberg, Alexander Gould.
I was somewhat disappointed because I read the book a few times when I was in elementary school.This is about a new kid in town named Billy.
Billy has to eat 10 worms in one day or the bully wins.The acting is OK, probably the worst part of the movie.
They think it's apocalypse if Billy does not eat the worms.
Hallie Eisenberg did a magnificent job, though.The plot line is good as a movie, but it sucks as a book adaptation.
I was able to watch this movie without looking at the time....sometimes.Overall, this was a good family movie with some weak points.
THIS IS NOT A GOOD FILM FOR KIDS!
If you read the book when you were younger and loved it, then don't waste your time watching a movie that so badly botches it that it makes you angry.
And the Pepsi girl was excellent!And Kimberly Williams was pretty gosh-darned hot, although she's not in the film very much, so don't get too excited there.Not that's it's really a bad thing, but it is the kind of movie you watch just once.
This was a fairly charming film, I liked the art direction (it felt far more "real" than most kids movies), and the costumes weren't too cutesy.
So I put this on for my three year old Daughter, instead of watching a nice kids film we watch a film where the kid is bullied throughout the film, he is actually made to eat worms.
A disgraceful film, I actually feel guilty for having let my child watch this, but I never imagined someone would be so dumb to make a film that enjoys torturing a good kid.
He gets called 'Worm Boy' at least one hundred times throughout the movie, the Director directs him to laugh a lot, as if this can somehow convince the audience that he's really not bothered about the abuse.Disgraceful story, disgraceful film, I know who I'd like to make eat worms.
It was funny, gross and just all out a very good movie.
I thought the kids in the movie were great.
For one thing, it was one of those "loosely based on the novel" movies, which usually means that the book author saw the script, hated it, and refused to be associated with the film.
As if to confirm it, my kid brother laughed right on cue when they were spoken on-screen; I could practically hear his voice spouting the same exact lines if he was placed in a similar situation.Another reason the movie works is that the writers manage to work in issues like bullying, sibling relationships, the new kid in school, and peer pressure/conformity without making any of them seem as though they were subplots for some after school special.
There's also no "cue the dramatic music" moment where Billy ('Worm Boy') realizes what a complete tool he's being to his younger brother Woody, and yet, by the end of the movie, some type of minor transformation has been made.
One of the best, most realistic live action kid films you'll ever see if you're ever around children or just remember what being a kid was actually like..
There is nothing wrong with this, since shows on Nickelodeon had similar themes and were decent, but this film decides to force it down the audience's throats, with one-dimensional characters all around the board; who have little to no redeeming quality in their personality.*SPOILER* The ending provides one of the worst morals you can give to a kid, seeing how the main character in the movie was a decent soul.
We end up knowing anything about her character, as she too is portrayed as the "crazy old hag" stereotype in the film (Remember kids.
Trust me, there are much better family-friendly films out there that your kids can enjoy..
As a classmate observes in Bob (The Banger Sisters) Dolman's very loose screen adaptation, "normal people don't eat worms." Well, not normally, but if there's a matter of personal honour at stake, boys of all ages will do all kinds of impossible things.In Rockwell's original novel, our young protagonist Billy is dared by his pals to scoff 15 fried worms in as many consecutive days.
If he loses, he has to cough up 50 greenbacks, along with those masticated worm segments.Upping the ante, the screen version of How To Eat Fried Worms sees 11-year-old Billy (Benward) obliged by fifth-grade despot Joe (Hicks) to eat 10 of the squirming critters in one day - else take a shuffle of shame down the school corridor with his pants stuffed with live nightcrawlers.
We're in Stand By Me territory, with that movie's blend of gross-out humour and heartfelt adolescent bonding, and those elements don't always prove such a digestible mix here.That said, Dolman's a good director of kids, able, as Herr Lipp of 'The League Of Gentlemen' would undoubtedly say, to "put himself inside an 11-year-old boy".
i thought this movie was awesome =) everyone did a great job the only thing is i don't think like really little kids should see it like 6 & 7 year old only because i think they might be like freaking out i don't know my opinion.I like woody the best especially the bicycle part that was hilarious i was dieing on the floor =]Austin rogers was such a dork.hes so dorky & i think everyone can relate to him there's something about him he tries to make it clear,,it doesn't matter what you look like what you wear your friends & family love you for who you are not what someone makes you.Adam hicks played really good at being a bully i have a lot of him in my school...girl version of him.girls in my school are so horrible and i think in this movie they make it clear that kindness=friendship if your not kind you'll end up with no friends.i love when Andrew Gillinghamstands up to Joe and that shows him that hes not afraid to stand up to anyone.Blake Garret is just flat out gorgeous hes so hot i showed my friends him & they couldn't get away from the TV when i put the movie on hes so hot but hes also a follower he follows Joe and so does Benjy Bradley and Donny.everyone can relate to billy Luke Benward we all had to start a new school there's always gonna be that one odd ball but don't always judge a book by its cover there's more to people then just whats on the outside.I had this new girl come to my school & she was sitting all alone at lunch & me & my friend sat with her & as we got to know her she was really nice.So you always have to find those people there's good people & bad people out there.Now in this movie everybody judged billy as just the new kid,but as he started to eat the worms i thought they pretty much all connected except Joe he was an oddball but at the end he was becoming more open i would love to see the same kids play in other movies too i think they have a great personality off-screen & on-screen.
It gave me the impression that he wanted to be a gangster.It's pretty hard to take little kids seriously, especially when it has to do with eating worms.
They act like everything is such a big deal, like if Billy (the main character) doesn't eat the worms then the world will end.This is a good movie for little kids (excluding the fact that a 5 year old says 'penis'), but not for teens or adults who don't want to waste their time..
In a world where trailers often show the best parts of the movie, a trailer that makes the film look bland is never a good sign.
"Average" is a word I have had to use far too much lately and, unfortunately, it is the word that sums up "How to Eat Fried Worms" as well.Billy (Benward) is the new kid at school and is, automatically, the target of the school's bully, Joe (Hicks).
How many times have we heard a plot similar to this--the new kid at school becoming the target of the token bully?
But, this is not the only thing that is clichéd in "How to Eat Fried Worms"?
We have seen this all before.The performances in "How to Eat Fried Worms" are about what you would expect from its young cast.
It all worked well enough."How to Eat Fried Worms" is a horribly unoriginal movie.
Unfortunately, for everyone who has seen even a quarter of the movies produced by Hollywood each year, there really isn't much of a reason to see thishowever, "How to Eat Fried Worms" was not made for these people.
It was made for kidsand, for kids, "How to Eat Fried Worms" is a solid enough watch.
It's a safe film, despite being gross and almost completely repulsive, but kids will enjoy it.
"How to Eat Fried Worms" is made specifically for its target audience and that audience will like it.
Well, I'm going to recommend it, but it isn't a movie that I would go out of my way to watch again.