How to Eat Fried Worms

This adaptation of Thomas Rockwell’s gross-out kids’ novel is essentially Fear Factor with a plot—a thin, clichéd plot. Luke Benward plays Billy, the new kid in town who bets the fifth-grade bully that he can eat 10 worms by Saturday night. Billy uses chili sauce, peanut butter, fried pig fat and anything else on hand to devour the colorfully named worm dishes, like Barfmallow and the Radioactive Slimy Delight. To preach the value of bravery and perseverance, writer/director Bob Dolman could have used countless other more intellectual and less nauseating source materials.