People only just remembering bizarre film starring Harry Potter actor with truly insane plot

OK, so there's this kid who was born with two stomachs and as a result has really powerful farts.

His farts are so powerful that his father abandons the family because he just can't deal with it any more, and the gaseous expulsions are strong enough to knock people over.

The kid gets bullied at school because he's farting so much but he's able to get on top of that when he farts in the face of his bully.

Eventually he makes friends with a child genius who can't smell, so isn't put off by his massive farts and builds him a contraption that can contain the bottom blasts, this genius eventually builds a fart-powered hovercraft as well.

The child genius then gets taken away in a car while the kid is recruited by an opera singer where his farts can help hit the high notes.

Eventually they're reunited where the kid's farts are the main component in a NASA mission to rescue astronauts trapped in space, also I think at one point the kid gets put on death row because his farts are too dangerous.

That all sounded insane, didn't it?

Tough, because that was the real plot of an actual film called Thunderpants, which starred Bruce Cook and Rupert Grint in the leading roles of the farting child and the kid genius.

This movie really wanted to make bank on Rupert Grint having been in Harry Potter. (Pathé)

The movie released back in 2002, and while it didn't exactly blast through box office records when it was released it's become the thing at the back of many people's brains which just occasionally meanders its way to the front of consciousness.

Every now and then Thunderpants just kind of strolls into conscious thought to leave people wondering whether it was a real movie or not.

It was real, it happened and that's just what the world was like in 2002.

"It's my arse, I want you to make me something that will stop me farting." - An actual line from this movie. (Pathé)

The film was certainly trying to capitalise on Grint having been in Harry Potter, as him being in those movies was a big deal for the marketing, but unlike the fart-powered spaceship in Thunderpants it didn't really take off.

While it didn't do great at the box office, Thunderpants got a mixed reaction from the critics who were pretty kind to the film.

Empire said it was 'a well-made, quirky oddity for adults, but a laugh riot for kids', so it doesn't sound like the end product was a stinker of a film.

Paul Giamatti once even described the movie as one of the high points of his career, so maybe you'll feel compelled to seek it out and give it another go.

Topics: Rupert Grint, TV and Film, Weird

Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

@MrJoeHarker