Thunderpants (2002)

An 11-year-old boy's amazing ability to break wind leads him first to fame and then to death row, before it helps him to fulfill his ambition of becoming an astronaut.

Director:

Peter Hewitt (as Pete Hewitt)

Writers:

Peter Hewitt (story) (as Pete Hewitt), Phil Hughes

Stars:

Simon Callow, Stephen Fry, Celia Imrie

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Simon Callow	...	Sir John Osgood
Stephen Fry	...	Sir Anthony Silk
Celia Imrie	...	Miss Rapier
Paul Giamatti	...	Johnson J. Johnson
Ned Beatty	...	Gen. Ed Sheppard
Bruce Cook	...	Patrick Smash
Rupert Grint	...	Alan A. Allen
Bronagh Gallagher	...	Mrs. Smash
Victor McGuire	...	Mr. Smash
Adam Godley	...	Placido P. Placeedo
Leslie Phillips	...	Judge
Robert Hardy	...	Doctor
John Higgins	...	Paediatrician
Lillie Crossley	...	Denise, age 5
Sam Davies	...	Patrick, age 3

Storyline

Patrick Smash (11) was born with two stomachs, and hence the uncontrollable 'talent' to produce ungodly farts. This soon drives his own dad away and makes his social life hell. His only friend is classmate Alan A. Allen, a prodigy genius, who has no sense of smell. Even Alan's invention Thunderpants, which renders Patrick's farts harmless, can't make his space travel dream realistic. However after the invention of an adaptation which turns it into flying fuel, Alan is recruited by the US space center. Patrick becomes word class tenor Sir John Osgood's secret high C farter. Their reunion is even more incredible.

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Plot Keywords:

invention | astronaut | tenor | dream | best friend | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Family | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for ongoing crude humor, language, some violence and bullying

Details

Official Sites:

Genius Products [United States]

Country:

UK Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 May 2002 (UK)

Also Known As:

Plein gaz

Filming Locations:

153 Hammersmith Road, Hammersmith, London, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$7,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£430,913 (United Kingdom), 26 May 2002, Limited Release

Company Credits

Production Co:

CP Medien AG,Mission Pictures,Pathé Pictures International

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Keira Knightley has a small cameo as one of the music school students. Although she is not mentioned in the cast list, she appears in the "Special Thanks to" list further in the credits.

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Quotes

Johnson J. Johnson: Will you help us, slugger?

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Connections

Spoofs The Right Stuff (1983)

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Soundtracks

Going All the Way
Written by R. Davis / M. Ankelius / H. Anderson
Performed by allStars

User Reviews

The very definition of crap

Oh god, I've seen some bad films in my time, butt no pun intended this is by far one of the smelliest.

The film focuses around an overweight child who constantly breaks wind, he eventually gets his dream to become an astronaut with the help of his goofy and annoying friend Rupert Grint. And thats it, the rest of this annoying film just focuses on toilet jokes. And I don't mean classy toilet jokes like Dumb and Dummer I mean stupid, unfunny, toilet jokes, like Thunderpants.

Every so often (literally every 6 seconds) the paragon of gluttony breaks wind. This is usually followed by a long pause; as if the cast are waiting for the audience to laugh, that laugh never comes. In fact after the first hellish 15 minutes of this tosh I could distinctly hear groaning coming from the back of the cinema, as the 219th fart in the film went off followed by the abnormally long pause for laughter. Some people would defend this film "its just a kids movie" they would say, this may be but I don't think the 30 children shuffling in their seats and whining to their parents about how much longer the movie was on for were entertained. One child even started crying "I'm bored, I'm bored" and burst into tears when the parents demanded him to stay and watch the rest of this sh*t. No, no he wasn't entertained. The only people who could enjoy this film and I mean REALLY enjoy are Harry Potter fanboys. They would only watch it for Rupert Grint though, marvelling at him and then make up some lie when the credits roll and say they liked it for the plot, the special effects or maybe even the music score. I truly believe if it was some other kid playing the part of the geeky kid and not Rupert nobody would like this film. Except the director, and maybe even he would be lying.

FEAR THIS FILM LIKE THE BUBONIC PLAGUE