Ever been in a food fight? They’re so common in film and television that you’d think they happen all the time in real life. The reality would be messy, sticky and annoying in the aftermath, but in movies, a food fight is a fun way to express frustration, bond with people, protest a bully, and fight zombies.
It’s unusual ammunition, but many of these scenes feature flying pies, pasta as a projectile, and mashed potatoes launched from a mouth.
So, what are some of the funniest and most outrageous food fight scenes in movies and television?
Ultimate Invasion (2021-2022)
This sci-fi series streaming on Roku begins with an asteroid on a collision course with Earth, which prompts an interplanetary Council to send an alien to Earth to decide if humans are worth saving. Raphael the alien witnesses a cafeteria argument where an episode of bullying leads to a big food fight. Insults are thrown, then pasta is thrown. This may not be the best way to make a good impression on aliens that hold the power of life and death over us. Imagine the fate of the world depending on your behavior in a food fight!
The Great Race (1965)
The Great Race is a comedy in technicolor that stars Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, and Natalie Wood — huge stars back in their day.
In the film, two early 20th century daredevils race their cars around the world, all the way from New York to Paris. During a break in the race, one racer starts a food fight in a bakery that devolves into a massive mess. A bakery! All of those cakes and pastries and pies available to grab and throw at someone’s face. It took the actors and film crew five days and a total of 4,000 custard-filled pies to create this scene that feature a huge, multi-tiered cake.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 1 & 2 (2009, 2013)
This animated movie series is based on Judi Barrett’s popular illustrated children’s book. The first movie’s plot follows an inventor — played by Bill Hader — who lives on an island, controls the weather, and creates food using his inventions. One day, he accidentally cranks his machine setting up too high, and the island gets buried under spaghetti and jellybeans. There’s an epic of snowball fight on Ice Cream Snowball Day, and food inventions like rainbow snowballs and different flavors of ice cream go flying everywhere as the island residents join in. In the second movie, food itself engages in a food fight, with bananas doing drop kicks and cheeseburgers shooting food against the wall.
Whip It (2009)
This funny movie follows a small-town mom who feels like an outsider, until she discovers the thrilling sport of roller derby. She starts a roller derby team with other eccentric women after encouraging her teen daughter to train for major league events. Since roller derby is very competitive and can get violent, it’s easy to get in an argument with fellow players. When a teammate is rude to the character played by Elliot Page, they retaliate and a fun food fight starts after Drew Barrymore‘s character’s channels John Belushi’s Bluto with a battle cry of “food fight!” Viewers get to see wonderful comedic actors like Alia Shawkat, Juliette Lewis, and Kristen Wiig hurl sticky milkshakes at each other.
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
George A. Romero made great zombie movies, and Dawn of the Dead is considered on of the best. The 1978 horror film shows a group of people hiding from zombies at an isolated shopping mall. The uninfected people are barricaded in the mall, but as zombies force their way in, the uninfected characters move to the mall’s food court. When the zombies follow, the people to use whatever they can get their hands on to fight back. What follows is a classic scene of comedy horror, as people throw pies at zombies’ faces to slow them down so they can make a getaway.
Matilda (1996)
Based on a children’s book by Roald Dahl, Matilda is about a girl who has special powers of telekinesis to fight back against mean grown-ups. At home and at school, adults keep bullying the kids. Matilda learns that when her dad yells at her, it gives her the anger — and power — to slam a door shut in his face using her mind. The food fight sequence in this movie shows a teacher, mean Mrs. Trunchbull (Pam Ferris), fleeing the school as Matilda rallies the students to throw pies at their bully.
Bugsy Malone (1976)
Bugsy Malone was the first film ever made with a cast made up entirely of child actors — including then-children Jodie Foster and Scott Baio — who portray gangsters in Prohibition-era New York. Many find it disturbing to see children depicting scenes of gangster violence, so when gunfights broke out with children wielding weapons, audiences cringed. So instead, the kids fire and are sprayed with … whipped cream. Of course, whipped cream gets everywhere — kids’ faces, the walls, ceilings and tables. And not one of the cast never laughs or smiles, instead acting as if the whipped cream is an expected and normal object to be shot out of their guns, adding to the surreality of the scene.
Hook (1991)
This is a great family movie about a grown-up Peter Pan who forgot how to be a child and must remember how to use his imagination to save his kids from the wicked Captain Hook. Starring an incredible cast of A-list actors including Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman, and Julia Roberts, and directed by the brilliant Steven Spielberg, it features a rambunctious food fight scene. Pies go flying as a whole table of kids throw pie and pie at Peter Pan, and each other. The scene ends when a child throws a coconut at Peter Pan, who slices it in half with a sword.
Blazing Saddles (1974)
This classic comedy was created by the genius comedy writer, producer, actor and director Mel Brooks (who’s still alive and making comedy at 97 years old!). Blazing Saddles is about a Black small-town sheriff who is hired to patrol a racist town (to make way for a corrupt politician to raze the town to build a new railroad). The acting — by Mel Brooks himself, Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn, Harvey Korman, and Cleavon Little — is considered top notch in this cowboy movie satire. The food fight scene is iconic; breaking the fourth wall, the townsfolk throw pies, tuna, and even soup at the tourists inside the Warner Bros. studio cafeteria and film crew.
Animal House (1978)
This comedy classic directed by John Landis stars the genius Saturday Night Live comedian John Belushi as an obnoxious and hilarious frat house misfit on a campus populated by snobbish squares. The irrepressible Belushi character loads his plate up with a large amount of food at the cafeteria and sits with a group of stodgy students, who mock him. So, what does he do? Stuffs his mouth with mashed potatoes, pushed his cheeks in with his hands and sprays them with food. “I’m a zit, get it?” he says. And then he utters the famous declaration used in other movies since and by anyone about to fling a pie in real life: “Food Fight!”