Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Middle school was never like this for me, but that doesn’t keep me from enjoying Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Kind of like Mean Girls – The Early Years, Diary of a Wimpy Kid tells the story of Greg Heffley, beginning with his first day of school in the sixth grade. Greg asked his mom for a journal to chronicle his adventure, but to his chagrin she bought him a diary instead. This is a disaster for the image conscious Greg. In his diary, correction, journal, he shares his feelings and experiences, illustrating them with his own drawings and cartoons. This will be a time saver for when he becomes famous. This way when people what to know how he became so rich and successful, he can just hand over his journal and all will be explained.

I really enjoyed Zachary Gordon as Greg. He is very charming, yet you could see that with all his preoccupation with being popular, he would turn the other kids off. His best friend Rowley (Robert Capron) has a different approach. His mother told him to just be himself. If you do that, everyone will naturally like you. In the beginning, neither approach works, this is middle school after all. But when Rowley has the good character and optimism to bounce back after every calamity, Greg eventually learns from his transcendent example. No matter how embarrassing Rowley is, he still is the very best kind of friend.

Diary of A Wimpy Kid is full of fun and quirky characters. Based on the book by Jeff Kinney, I especially like the tormenting older brother played by Devon Bostick. He makes an art of being a bullying big brother. Steve Zahn (Daddy Day Care) and Rachel Harris (The Hangover) portray Greg’s parents, but the twins (Owen and Connor Fielding), who play Greg’s toddler age little brother were hysterical. I don’t know how director Thor Freudenthal (Motel For Dogs) got such a funny performance out of them, but they were hilarious. This film is full of little gems.

Rating: First Run This film avoids the cheese touch