Fred: The Movie

Plot

Fred Figglehorn, an unpopular, hyperactive and puerile 15 year-old who wears childish dungarees and striped T-shirts, believes himself to be cool and a good singer. He is in unrequited 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 in order to avoid harassment by Kevin, Fred discovers that she has moved. Thus, Fred embarks on a journey to find Judy's new house and sing with her there.

During the quest, Fred encounters myriad characters including an anthropomorphic 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 vomit on Judy's party dress (accidentally). 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. In order 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 videoing 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

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 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 is produced by Varsity Pictures and The Collective.

Reception

The film has been universally panned. It has a 0% rating at Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 2.5/10, and no positive votes after 13 reviews. 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 his co-broadcaster. He paired it with A Serbian Film as his least favorite viewing experiences of the year. The premiere of Fred: The Movie drew an audience of 7.6 million total viewers.

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 #8 spot, taking in £257,133 in the first week. In the UK, it was also given a 12A rating by the BBFC.

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. They also took out the character of Judy from the first film. Another sequel was released called Fred 3: Camp Fred.

Home media

Fred: The Movie was released on DVD on October 5, 2010.