Big Mouth

“Reversal,” what 14-year-old Sherman Thuff calls vomiting, plays a major role in this attenuated story about a boy who plans to become “the fastest, richest, most famous competitive eater in the world”—an ambition born of watching “The Glutton Bowl” on TV. Setting his sights on a July 4th hot-dog eating contest, Shermie enlists his friends as trainers, then engages in a cycle of gorging and “reversals” that come in for prodigiously detailed descriptions. Conveniently, Shermie's science teacher assigns an experiment that familiarizes him with butyric acid, which smells like “vomit. Puke. Throw-up,” a passage typical of the sensibility at work. Other ham-handed scenes at Del Heiny Junior High, named for the ketchup manufacturer that serves as its corporate sponsor, revolve around attacks by anonymous “Mustard Taggers.” Halverson (Honk if You Hate Me ) tries to build up the mystery of who's behind the mustard revolt but the absurdity of this ketchup vs. mustard feud fizzles any real tension. By the time she rolls around to her point, that boys suffer from eating disorders, too, the audience may have checked out. Ages 10–up. (June)