''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. The film is an adaptation of Michael Kun's 2003 novel ''The Locklear Letters'' updated for the

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

era. It stars

Tony Hale Anthony Russell Hale (born September 30, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. He is most known for his comedic leading roles in the Fox series '' Arrested Development'' as Buster Bluth, and as Gary Walsh on the HBO series '' Veep''. For the ...

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

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

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

Elizabeth Banks Elizabeth Irene Banks (; February 10, 1974) is an American actress, director, and producer. She is known for playing chaperone Effie Trinket in ''The Hunger Games'' film series (2012–2015) and an ICCA commentator in the ''Pitch Perfect'' ...

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

Plot

Sid is a software company manager who is asked to help plan a reunion for West Coast graduates of the University of Pennsylvania. One of the graduates is Elizabeth Banks. She knew him in college and Sid sends her numerous messages, not realizing they are public. Elizabeth's agent Frankie finds out he is sending the messages and gets concerned that Sid is a

stalker Stalking is unwanted and/or repeated surveillance or contact by an individual or group toward another person. Stalking behaviors are interrelated to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person or monitoring t ...

. Sid asks for an autographed photo for his brother Tom's birthday but it is messed up and he has to ask for a replacement. Frankie finally has a

restraining order A restraining order or protective order is an order used by a court to protect a person in a situation often involving alleged domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, assault, harassment, stalking, or sexual assault. Restraining and perso ...

issued which Sid vows to fight. However, Sid goes viral and loses his job. Sid finds a cheap lawyer James to fight the restraining order but has to wait for the lawyer to pass the bar. When Sid goes before a judge he is unable to produce sufficient evidence to get the restraining order dropped. As the judge is about to rule, Sid remembers the story of how Elizabeth inspired the

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

team to play harder against a very good team. The judge rules in Sid's favor. Sid goes to the reunion and gets another job. Tom's wife gives birth and while Sid is visiting he gets a phone call. Though he doesn't answer, Elizabeth is heard by the movie audience leaving a message telling Sid how she remembers him fondly and has been filming a movie out of the country. As she used to do, she says goodbye by saying, "Eat Wheaties."

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. In 2020, thei ...

, and had its American premiere at the

Heartland Film Festival The Heartland International Film Festival (HIFF) is a high academy qualifying film festival held each October in Indianapolis, Indiana, hosted by the nonprofit organization Heartland Film, Inc. The festival was first held in 1992, with the goal to ...

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 is an independent film festival held in San Diego, California, produced by the nonprofit San Diego Film Foundation. The main event has traditionally been held annually in autumn at venues in the Gaslamp Q ...

, 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 * Na ...

'' 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 was an American-Canadian distribution company founded in 2001 and owned by Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment since 2017 alongside its subsidiary Popcornflix. In 2008, Screen Media selected The Creative Coalition ...

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 aggregator, 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 ...

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'', also known colloquially simply as ''Curb'', is an American television comedy of manners created by Larry David that premiered on HBO with an hour-long special in October 17, 1999, followed by 12 seasons broadcast from Oc ...

'' 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 writer. He is a former columnist and film critic for the '' Chicago Sun-Times'', where he wrote for 39 years dating back to 1986 until his departure in 2025. He co-hosted the television s ...

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

Chicago Sun Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' noted "in the hands of writer-director Scott Abramovitch and with the considerable contributions of an outstanding cast that also includes Kylie Bunbury (“Big Sky”) and

Paul Walter Hauser Paul Walter Hauser (born October 15, 1986) is an American actor and wrestler. He is best known for his portrayal of Stingray in the Netflix series ''Cobra Kai'' and providing the voice of Embarrassment in Pixar's ''Inside Out 2'' (2024). He pla ...

(“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 Screen Media films