HOW TO EAT FRIED WORMS

Year: 2005
USA: New Line Cinema
Cast: Luke Benward, Hallie Kate Eisenberg, Adam Hicks, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Tom Cavanagh, Austin Rogers, Alexander Gould, Ryan Malgarini, Philip Daniel Bolden, Clint Howard, Ty Panitz, James Rebhorn, Andrew Gillingham, Blake Garrett, Alexander Agate, Andrea Martin, David Bewley, Simone White, Nick Krause, Jo Ann Farabee, Karen Wacker, Tom Brainard, Tim Mateer
Director: Bob Dolman
Country: USA
USA: 90 mins
USA Rated: PG for mild bullying and some crude humor
USA Release Date: 25 August 2006


Synopsis

New Line Cinema and Walden Media present HOW TO EAT FRIED WORMS, a feature film adaptation of Thomas Rockwell's hugely popular young adult book, which has been a perennial seller since its publication in 1973, amassing nearly 3 million copies sold worldwide. Rockwell has penned numerous books for young readers and has received The Mark Twain Award, the California Young Reader Medal, and the Sequoyah Award for How to Eat Fried Worms.

Mitch Forrester (Tom Cavanagh) and his wife Helen (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) have packed their boys into the family station wagon and are heading to a new town with a new job for Mitch and a new elementary school for Billy. It seems to Billy that everybody else, including his little brother Woody (Ty Panitz), easily adapts to the new surroundings.

HOW TO EAT FRIED WORMS tells the story of Billy (Luke Benward), an 11 year-old whose fears are realized in his first moments at the new school when everybody picks on him except the tall, lanky girl named Erika Tanzy (Hallie Kate Eisenberg). Billy then inadvertently challenges the town bully, Joe Guire (Adam Hicks), on his first day at a new school.

To save face and earn the respect of his new classmates, Billy agrees to a bet that will determine his fate at the school... whether or not he can eat ten worms in one day. As the pressure mounts, he must summon heroic strength to keep his 5 year-old brother from blabbing, his weak stomach from betraying him and his big mouth from getting him into more trouble than he's already in.

Meanwhile, at his work, Mitch is struggling with his own issues about fitting in and first impressions that lead him to take on a certain challenge of his own...