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Fred: The Movie

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Wikipedia article




'Fred: The Movie' (stylized as 'FED: THE MOVIE') is a 2010 American comedy film written by David A. Goodman, directed by Clay Weiner and produced by Brian Robbins. The film is based on the adventures of Fred Figglehorn, a character created and played by Lucas Cruikshank for Cruikshank's YouTube channel, and it is the first film in the Fred trilogy. The film casts Siobhan Fallon Hogan and John Cena as Fred's parents and pop singer and actress Pixie Lott as Fred's crush Judy. First optioned as a theatrical release, the film instead premiered on children's TV channel Nickelodeon in the United States on September 18, 2010. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the film was released theatrically on December 17, 2010. This film was the debut of Pixie Lott as an actress.

The film was unanimously panned and has a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Plot



Fred Figglehorn, an unpopular, hyperactive 15-year-old who wears childish dungarees, striped T-shirts and suspenders, believes himself to be cool and a good singer. He is in love with a girl named Judy, and is devastated to see her performing a romantic duet with his rival Kevin during a music class. Following this, Fred aspires to one day sing his own duet with Judy. After an attempt to dig his way to her house to avoid harassment by Kevin, Fred discovers that she has moved, so he throws a massive tantrum by tearing up his living room and later cleaning it up. Thus, Fred embarks on a journey to find Judy's new house and sing with her there.

During the quest, Fred encounters a myriad of characters including a Hispanic man who doesn't speak English; a talking deer; a bedraggled childhood friend who had gotten lost in the forest years earlier (known as Little Evan Weiss); a neighborhood girl named Bertha; and a boy named Derf with a personality diametrically opposite to his own. Eventually arriving at Judy's home, Fred discovers that she is hosting a party to which he was not invited. Fred is bullied by her guests for his poor social standing at school, and his eccentric personality. Kevin then shoves a pizza onto Fred's shirt, causing him to unintentionally vomit on Judy's party dress. Miserable, Fred leaves the house and is infuriated to find that Kevin has posted a video of him vomiting on Judy on YouTube. In an attempt to get revenge, Fred decides to throw a party of his own to which no one will be invited. To deceive others into believing that he has held a spectacular house party, Fred invites Bertha over, where they costume mannequins in different outfits and clown around while filming the proceedings. Fred alters the video of the fake party and posts it on the internet, whereupon his peers are misled into believing that Fred and Bertha actually held an extraordinary party. Following this, Judy visits Fred's house and asks if the two may sing together, and Fred accepts the request.

Cast



* Lucas Cruikshank as Fred Figglehorn Fred is a socially awkward and extremely hyper teenager living with his mother, who constantly longs for his neighbor Judy. Cruikshank also portrays Derf Nrohelggif (the protagonist's name spelled backwards): a mysterious stranger resembling Fred, yet possessing traits completely opposite to Fred's. Fred is the only character who ever interacts with Derf, leaving one to wonder if Derf is simply a figment of his imagination that represents what he believes an idealized version of himself would be like.

* Jennette McCurdy as Bertha Fred's best friend who wears bizarre clothing, but cares little for what others think.

* Jake Weary as Kevin Fred's arch-rival who lives just across the street from Fred. Unlike Fred he is a genuinely good singer and is as attracted to Judy as she is to him (both facts are denied by Fred despite the evidence).

* Siobhan Fallon Hogan as Hilda Figglehorn Fred's forgetful mother, who spends most of the film napping in her bedroom.

* Pixie Lott as Judy Fred's love interest. In contrast to the web series, Judy is a nice, beautiful and caring girl with an English accent, and seems to care for Fred.

* John Cena as Fred's dad Fred's imaginary muscular father appears almost out of nowhere to offer Fred advice and support throughout the film.

* Stephanie Courtney as Kevin's mother, who wishes for Fred and Kevin to become friends. She is also hinted at being in an abusive relationship with Kevin's father.

* Kevin Olson as Evan Weiss

* Mak Kriksciun as young Evan Weiss, a childhood friend of Fred who got lost in the woods for many years.

* Gary Anthony Williams as Laundromat manager

* Chris Wylde as Dam Security Guard

* Oscar Nunez as Lorenzo

* Jordan Black as Gary

* Jack Coughlan as Young Fred

* Dave Silva as the mechanic who only speaks Spanish

Production



'Huffington Post' author Greg Mitchell made note of the film's production when noting the proliferation of web comedy and dramatic series as a perceived threat to network television. The project performed casting and entered principal photography in November 2009, and completed filming on December 20. After filming wrapped, a yard sale was held in Silver Lake, California to sell props, set dressing and costumes from the shoot.

Brian Robbins originally optioned "Fred" as a feature film, but decided to bypass the studio system and provided major funding for the project himself. After filming was completed, excerpts were shown to Nickelodeon head Cyma Zarghami who began negotiations to acquire the film. Zarghami stated that airing on Nickelodeon would give the film a large audience base and allow him to target a sequel for a theatrical release. The film debuted on Nickelodeon on September 18; however, it was released in British and Irish cinemas on December 17.

This movie was produced by Varsity Pictures and The Collective.

According to the director's commentary on the film, found on the DVD, there was much conflict between screenwriter David Goodman and director Clay Weiner creatively. This includes the cutting of certain references and callbacks to Fred and other related works that Goodman had written in.

Reception



Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 0% based on 13 reviews and an average rating of 2.46/10.

In a review of the film on BBC Radio 5 'Live', Mark Kermode gave the film a negative review, a large part of which he spent imitating the character Fred's distinctive scream, leading to his microphone being taken away by co-caster Simon Mayo. He paired it with notoriously controversial European horror film 'A Serbian Film' as his least favorite viewing experiences of the year.

Despite the negative response, it was the second highest viewed TV cable movie of 2010 across all networks. In the UK, it opened in the No. 8 spot, taking in 257,133 in the first week. Additionally, the premiere of 'Fred: The Movie' drew an audience of 7.6 million total viewers.

Sequels



A sequel titled 'Fred 2: Night of the Living Fred' premiered on October 22, 2011. A teaser trailer was broadcast during a commercial break of 'iCarly'. Daniella Monet replaced Jennette McCurdy in the role of Bertha and 'Modern Family' star Ariel Winter also joined the cast. In addition, the character of Judy was written out. Another sequel was released called 'Fred 3: Camp Fred'.

Home media



'Fred: The Movie' was released on DVD on October 5, 2010. It was also released in a triple pack box set along with 'Fred 2: Night of the Living Fred' and 'Fred 3: Camp Fred' on December 4, 2012. On the DVD for 'Fred: The Movie', a full length director's commentary is found, recorded by director Clay Weiner, David Goodman, and star Lucas Cruikshank.

References




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