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Story

How to Eat Fried Worms is based on the Thomas Rockwell book of the same name, published in 1973.  It is the story of 11-year-old Billy (Luke Benward), who moves to a new town with his family. Billy finds the transition difficult. On his first day at school, he has a run-in with the school bully, Joe Guire (Adam Hicks). Joe and his gang set their sights on Billy and begin tormenting him by putting worms in his lunch and calling him ‘worm boy’.

To stand up to the school bully, Billy makes a bet that he can eat 10 fried worms in one day, even though he is renowned for his weak stomach. Many entertaining messy adventures and ‘gross’ incidents of worm-eating follow as Billy struggles to complete the task.

Erika (Hallie Kate Eisenberg) is the only person who offers Billy support on his first day at the school. Billy sometimes takes her support for granted, particularly when it puts him in the firing line of further taunts from Joe and his gang. Billy has to make a tough decision. He must decide whether to stand up for himself and his true friends or to give up and let the bully win.

Themes

Bullying; killing and eating living creatures

Violence

There is some violence in this movie including:

  • There is bullying throughout the movie, including verbal taunts made by the school bully Joe Guire towards Billy and other children throughout the school who don’t do what he says.  Additionally, Joe Guire is bullied by his older brother at two points within the movie.
  • There are multiple scenes depicting the killing, cooking and eating of worms.  Billy agrees to a dare that sees him having to eat 10 worms in one day and throughout the day the worms are seen being fried, micro-waved, mashed or eaten alive.
  • Joe, the school bully, wears a ring that is said to be a ‘death ring’.  School yard legend states that if punched by the ring you will be injected with poison that will kill you once you reach grade 8, so that the culprit can never be traced.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including a scene where Woody (Billy’s younger brother) makes a reference to his penis. He says, ‘Dilly dink is my penis’.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

None

Nudity and sexual activity

None

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie: Mayflower Moving Company, Dell Computers, Konami Video Games, Heinz, Diet Coke and Florida Juice.

Coarse language

Although this movie contains no coarse language, it does include some mild name-calling.

Ideas to discuss with your children

How to Eat Fried Worms is a movie made for children and includes ‘gross’ scenes and peculiar situations that are most likely to be enjoyed by younger viewers. Children will relate to many of the characters and the dilemmas they face. This is because the movie reflects typical issues that many young people encounter during their own school lives. The main messages from this movie are that you should stick by your friends and stand up to bullies.

Supported By

  • Department of Social Services

Raising Children Network is supported by the Australian Government. Member organisations are the Parenting Research Centre and the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute with The Royal Children’s Hospital Centre for Community Child Health.

Member Organisations

  • Parenting Research Centre
  • The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne
  • Murdoch Children's Research Institute

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