How to Eat Fried Worms

source: How to Eat Fried Worms

This is a pretty bad movie. It looks really cheap and all the actors are terrible. I'm not just talking about the child actors, everyone here is pretty bad. Overall the movie is just gross and pointless. The only reason why I watched this is because my brother read the book and wanted to see the movie. Apparently it is extremely inaccurate to the book. I don't really care, but even fans of this nonsense don't like it.

A couple of future Disney bubblegum teens Luke Benward and Adam Hicks are featured in this film from their salad just reaching puberty days. 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. To the sound of the phrase 'worm boy' he brazens it out saying he enjoys them, they're quite the delicacy. Only Hicks counters with one of those triple dog dares that you never turn down. Eat 10 of them on Saturday without upchucking some intestine and you win. What I'm not sure, but as we learn in A Christmas Story you don't turn down a triple dog dare. Benward and Hicks had better things in their future. I swear though Hicks could be the illegitimate son of brat packer Anthony Michael Hall from the 80s. Both Hall and Hicks did better things than this film. If your taste runs to films where all the adults are idiots this is definitely your kind of movie.

I thought the kids in the movie were great. I deal with kids in that age group, and I thought their behaviors were very believable. I did have a problem with the reference to the private parts made by the 5-year old. I didn't think the comment was necessary and actually slightly lowered my opinion of the movie. I think Luke Benward is up and coming star. I would like to see more of him on the big screen. I enjoyed his reactions to the situations that he found himself in. Often kids in this age group do things without thinking through the consequences. Almost all of the actors did this throughout the movie. I also think the message of bullying needs to be examined more in movies with this age group. It is a major problem in schools today. The ending was quite unexpected. Billy's thoughts on whether he won or didn't win the bet were very surprising. How he handled that situation was excellent. Too often today kids are not willing to compromise. The actors in this movie showed that compromise is an important part of life.

I was bored, around 10pm, so I watched this movie. And I could not stop laughing. Everything was so ridiculous. The way the kids were acting like they were older than 11 just cracked me up. One of the kids had a ring, that supposedly killed people after 3 or so years. 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 '*'), but not for teens or adults who don't want to waste their time.

I sat with my children as we watched this film. 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.

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. We are supposed to believe that in some way the bully learns his lesson as he loses his friends, but the fact is that that is simply not enough, as the abuse suffered by the boy is never even nearly revenged, it's basically child abuse by children, very humiliating for the boy, traumatic, depressing, and misses the point completely, this is a 'Pro Bully' film. The writer and / or Director must like bullies and what they do. 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. Now I need to go and punch myself in the face as my Daughter looks quite upset.

After being forced to sit through some real stinkers (Racing Stripes, Shark Boy and Lava Girl) -- I truly enjoyed watching "Fried Worms". For once, I did not guess the ending! It was funny and entertaining and didn't resort to a ton of gross-out humor, despite the title. My boys (6 and 10) both LOVED it too -- oh and my 45 year old "boy" had a smile on his face the whole time. This is a family movie that is not just tolerable for the parents. The relationship with the little brother is so close to real life. "He is not stopping singing just to annoy me!!" Also, the way the new kid tries to make friends and how those friendships actually form is right-on with the way kids behave. Of course the parents have to act a little goofy -- but my favorite scenes involved the Dad getting used to his new job. Have fun!

This film exploits the "gross-out" and "kids rule" to an extreme. 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. By the end of the film, he wonders if he should stop this "bet" with these bullies. However, he makes the choice of finishing the bet, despite the trouble that he got into. He befriends the bullies, and they stuff a bunch of worms down the principal's pants (...nice). I also felt really sorry for the "witch" lady in the film. She was treated as this "evil" woman, and was pressured with rumors all around town. We end up knowing anything about her character, as she too is portrayed as the "crazy old hag" stereotype in the film (Remember kids. All old woman who live in a cabin by themselves with no company are crazy and should be mocked Moments like these are downright disgraceful. The film would have been clever if, in the beginning, the characters seem like tropes, but end up being someone completely different (but only seem one-dimensional due to the obvious social pressure you see in the film). But the movie does otherwise, and tries to brainwash kids into a little world of stereotypes and insults just to make a quick buck. I remember seeing this movie when I was a kid. This was the movie that woke me up; realizing that not every movie is going to be good. Even as a child, I thought that the gross "humor" and mean spirit atmosphere went to far. There was nothing to enjoy and no characters to like. It was painful all the way through. Save your money. This movie is not even worth a rental. Trust me, there are much better family-friendly films out there that your kids can enjoy.

I have to admit I did not finish this movie because it was so amazingly stupid and not worth watching. I watched it with a room full of kids, who also were not laughing at the stupid and crude humor. The director, Bob Dolman, seems to be so obsessed with sphincters and genitalia that it overrides the real story that I grew up with. THIS IS NOT A GOOD FILM FOR KIDS! Besides the fact that the content is so crude, the movie is just stupid has bad flow and has no intelligence behind it. What a waste of a perfectly good story. 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. Buy your kids the book instead.