''Eat Wheaties!'' is a 2020 Canadian comedy film written and directed by Scott Abramovitch, and produced by Abramovitch and David J. Phillips.Gabriel Sigler
"Tony Hale plays a schlub obsessed with Elizabeth Banks in the sweet and quirky ‘Eat Wheaties!’"
''Bad Feeling'', September 29, 2020.

Premise

An adaptation of Michael Kun's 2003 novel ''The Locklear Letters'' updated for the

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

era, the film stars

Tony Hale Anthony Russell Hale (born September 30, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his role in the Fox comedy series ''Arrested Development'' as Buster Bluth. Hale played Gary Walsh on the HBO comedy ''Veep'' from 2012 until its ...

as Sid Straw, a man who becomes co-chair of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

planning committee for his college reunion, only to become obsessed with proving that he was friends with actress

Elizabeth Banks Elizabeth Banks (born Elizabeth Irene Mitchell; February 10, 1974) is an American actress and filmmaker. She is known for playing Effie Trinket in ''The Hunger Games'' film series (2012–2015) and Gail Abernathy-McKadden in the ''Pitch Perfe ...

in their student days.Lou Harry
"Heartland 2020: Eat Wheaties!"
''Midwest Film Journal'', October 6, 2020.

Cast

Release

The film premiered on September 25, 2020 at the

Calgary International Film Festival The Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) is a film festival held annually in Calgary, Alberta, in late September and early October. CIFF is the largest international film festival in Alberta and the sixth largest in Canada. The Festival's ...

, and had its American premiere at the

Heartland Film Festival The Heartland International Film Festival is a film festival held each October in Indianapolis, Indiana. The festival was first held in 1992, its goal is to "inspire filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion pictu ...

in October 2020 where it was the Opening Night film and won the Humor And Humanity Award. It was subsequently screened at the 2020

San Diego International Film Festival The San Diego International Film Festival (SDIFF) is an independent film festival in San Diego, California produced by the non-profit San Diego Film Foundation. The main event has traditionally been held annually in the autumn at venues in the ...

, winning the Best Comedy Award, and the 2020

Whistler Film Festival The Whistler Film Festival (WFF) is an annual film festival held in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 2001, the festival is held the first weekend of December and includes juried competitive sections, the Borsos Awards, and the Pand ...

, where Norman Wilner of ''

Now Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Now ...

'' wrote that "If any movie at this festival has a chance at cult status, it’s this one."Norman Wilner
"Five buzzy films to stream at the Whistler Film Festival"
''

'', December 1, 2020. It was released theatrically and on VOD in the United States on April 30, 2021 by

Screen Media Films Screen Media Ventures, LLC. is an American-Canadian distribution company founded in 2001. In 2008, Screen Media selected The Creative Coalition as its exclusive nonprofit partner in launching the Spotlight Initiative. The partnership permits the p ...

and won the Best Feature Film and People's Choice Best Feature Film awards at the 2022 Borrego Springs Film Festival as well as the Best Feature Film, Humor/Satire at 2022's Filmfest Bremen.

Reception

The film was positively reviewed by film critics, with a

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

score of 68% and Lou Harry of the ''Midwest Film Journal'' writing "''Eat Wheaties!'' is one of my favorite films this year. Honestly. It's got the cringe-laughs of a good episode of ''

Curb Your Enthusiasm ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' is an American television sitcom produced and broadcast by HBO since October 15, 2000, and created by Larry David, who stars as a semi-fictionalized version of himself. It follows David's life as a semi-retired televisio ...

'' but with a sweet, gentle heart beating inside it." Gabriel Sigler of ''Bad Feeling'' wrote that "''Eat Wheaties!'' is one of the most enjoyable films of the year." The critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes reads, "It frequently fumbles its attempts to balance cringe comedy and sincere drama, but Tony Hale's charm helps keep ''Eat Wheaties!'' from getting soggy."

Richard Roeper Richard E. Roeper (born October 17, 1959) is an American columnist and film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times''. He co-hosted the television series '' At the Movies'' with Roger Ebert from 2000 to 2008, serving as the late Gene Siskel's success ...

's three star (out of four) review in the ''

Chicago Sun Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'' noted "in the hands of writer-director Scott Abramovitch and with the considerable contributions of an outstanding cast that also includes

Kylie Bunbury Kylie Bunbury (born January 30, 1989) is a Canadian-American actress. Life Bunbury was born in Montreal, Canada, to Kristi Novak and Alex Bunbury, a soccer player. Her father is Guyanese-Canadian. She spent her childhood in England (for two yea ...

(“Big Sky”) and

Paul Walter Hauser Paul Walter Hauser (born October 15, 1986) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his supporting roles in the films '' Cruella'', ''I, Tonya'', '' Late Night'', ''BlacKkKlansman'', and ''Da 5 Bloods''. In 2019, Hauser had his breakout ...

(“Richard Jewell”), “Eat Wheaties” is a dryly funny, even sweet and surprisingly touching story".

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 10584340 2020 films 2020 comedy films Canadian comedy films English-language Canadian films 2020s English-language films 2020s Canadian films