Posted: 08/26/2006

How to Eat Fried Worms

(2006)

by Karen Petruska

How to Eat Fried Worms is completely disgusting, and that is exactly the point. Based on Thomas Rockwell’s much loved novel of the same name, the movie tells the story of ten-year-old Billy, forced to move when his Dad gets a new job. On his first day at a new school, Billy becomes the target of class bully, Joe. Upon finding worms in his lunch, Billy defiantly retorts that he eats worms all the time. After throwing a worm in the face of the bully, he reluctantly accepts a dare to eat ten worms in one day. The charming animated introductory credits for the film introduce Billy as rather prone to nausea, so the bravery/insanity of his accepting such a dare is quiet apparent to the audience.

For the next hour, Joe and his gang concoct disgusting combinations of worms and everyday foods for Billy to digest. This full embrace of the wacky mindset of a fifth-grade boy demonstrates the film’s greatest strength: it speaks to children on their level. Whereas I may not find spinach and broccoli a terribly combination, a young boy certainly does. The humor resides firmly on a fifth-grade level, so while adults may enjoy this inside look into the minds of their children, this is not a Disney film stuffed with adult-targeted pop culture references.

The adult characters suffer from this juvenile world view. As Mrs. Bommley, Andrea Martin has fun creating a rather eccentric history teacher, but as we view her through the eyes of the young men only, she never develops her own character. Similarly, Principal Burdock, called “Boiler Head” by the young men for some reason known only to ten-year-old boys, endows the film with a vague sense of threat but otherwise exists as a punch line.

Poor Kimberly Williams-Paisley as Billy’s mother barely has a character to play, and Tom Cavanaugh (from television’s now defunct Ed) struggles to find any depth in the portrayal of Billy’s father. Though his character suffers a somewhat similar hazing experience at his new office, the script fails to imbue the dialogue with his son with resonance or believability. You almost hear Ward Cleaver in the background, pulling his pipe out of his mouth and saying, “Now, son…” Their dialogue is weak, antiquated, and presents Billy’s father as well-meaning but hapless.

Film veteran Luke Benward plays Billy, also known as Worm Boy, with wit and grit. Adam Hicks portrays bully Joe with appropriate menace (obscuring his own insecurities) and an entire cast of young men imparts an impressive energy to the film. When the acting is weak or the pacing suffers, the sound team inserts fun sound effects to move the film forward, thus adding to the whimsy. Hallie Kate Eisenberg, with an impressive nine films under her belt, plays outcast Erika with maturity and wisdom, but one can’t help wonder how the girls treat her when the boys are so clearly awful. I’d bet a sequel could demonstrate how female hazing might give the boys a run for their money.

Enjoying all the gross-out possibilities implicit in the title, How to Eat Fried Worms is not for the queasy. Director Bob Dolman keeps the film moving and delivers a delightful and heartfelt ode to childhood.

Karen Petruska is a film critic living in Chicago.

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