DIARY OF A WIMPY KID
US, 2010, 90 minutes, Colour.
Zachary Gordon, Robert Capron, Rachael Harris, Steve Zahn, Devon Bostick, Chloe Moretz.
Directed by Thor Freudenthal.
Definitely for young teens (younger if they have had experience of bullies and now have ambitions for being popular), but many parents seem to have enjoyed it, no doubt remembering their childhood or observing parallels with their own children. I was wondering about enjoying it until I saw the PE coach (Coach Malone!) bullying the younger kids who had to be stand-up knock-down targets for his older footballing team – and my memory hurried back to... and the film seemed a little more realistic than I would have thought.
But, then I had difficulty with Greg (Zachary Gordon), the allegedly wimpy kid, who did not seem all that wimpy to me. He looks like what Americans love to call ‘cute’. But, he generally didn’t act too cutely at all – and this has appealed to reviewers who can’t stand goody-goody kids on screen. Rather, he seemed something of a selfish brat, quite self-centred and absorbed, wanting popularity at any cost, pushing himself and downsizing others so that he would appear as a success in the yearbook, a social conformist to all the expectations for being the all-American. So, in moments of anti-Yank hostility, I thought him the ‘typical American (for which I now apologise, but you know what I mean).
Greg lies, exploits, betrays, mocks his best friend, letting him take the blame for his wrong-doing. Perhaps I am just being carried away because so many warm to Greg and his ‘cuteness’.
My sympathies were really with the plump, the naive and straightforward Rowley (Robert Capron) who is always putting his foot in it, blurting out the truth (to his best friend Greg’s dismay). But, Rowley is all the nicer for it. Maybe Greg is not entirely to blame. Look at his family. His father, played by Steve Zahn just like the morons Greg sketches and despises, is dumb. His mother (Rachael Harris), however, is tolerant and does offer good advice. Greg’s older brother Rodrick (Devon Bostick) plays tricks on him with superior meanness (but, are we to applaud when Greg mischievously and just as meanly turns the tables on Rodrick and gets him into trouble?). There is also a little brother with some potty difficulties. Come to think of it, Greg is very nasty to Pam, the stuck-up would-be head of the class during a performance of The Wizard of Oz.
Greg and Rowley fall out to Greg’s frustration and Rowley’s bewilderment. Rowley becomes popular after Greg has broken Rowley’s hand, all the girls wanting to sign his cast. Rowley also wins the competition for the school paper cartoonist which Greg presumed he would win.
Not to spoil the ending (and a sequel is in the works, though Rodrick’s name is in the title), Greg does have a spectacular conversion experience to do with a progressively moulding piece of cheese in the school yard – the kids believe that anyone who touches it, let alone eats it, has the cheese curse. Greg defends Rowley.
If you really like this film, which in tone and jokes is better than a lot of too-knowing and crude school movies, you may judge that this piece was written as part of the diary of a wimpy reviewer.
1. The audience for the film? Children? Parents? Its style?
2. Based on original cartoons, transferred to novel form, to a screenplay? Real live action blended with use of animation and cartoons?
3. The title, expectations? Greg Heffley and his being strong-minded?
4. The issues of school, middle school? The parallels with other school films? Ordinary, less rude? The rotting cheese in the yard? Classes, teachers? The authority figures? The safety patrol?
5. Greg, the introduction, the voice-over? Rodrick waking him wrongly, preparing to go to school, the night, Rodrick pretending to sleep? The meanness of Rodrick’s trick?
6. The sketch of the parents, Dad, off-kilter, throwing the water, his comments? The mother, sensible, talking with Greg, her principles?
7. Greg, going to middle school, being juniors in the school? The mother, the preparation, the other children, small, his sitting amongst morons? The issue of the cheese? Rowley as his best friend?
8. Greg as self-centred, his size, wanting to be popular, wanting success, friendship, the year book? His friendship with Angie and her observations? Rowley? Rowley and himself being victims of the bullies?
9. Rowley as nice, naïve, wanting to go to play, the Halloween episode, going to the empty house, fear of the woods, the bullies, their fighting back? Getting on the safety patrol, doing it well? The cartoon competition, Greg wanting to win, despising Rowley’s cartoons? The breaking of Rowley’s hand? Rowley’s popularity, the girls signing his cast?
10. Greg and play, the chase, the woods and Halloween? The water tipped by their father? The cartoon competition, his reaction to losing? Jealousy of Rowley, hurting him, Rowley and his getting new friends?
11. The children, the safety patrol, Greg getting them into the mess, his fear of the bullies? Rowley blamed? Greg and the discussions with his mother, his not telling the truth, letting Rowley take the blame?
12. The clash, their not talking, Greg’s attempts, the ice cream, Rowley and his new friend, resistance?
13. Rodrick, his band, mean, the sex magazines, the little brother, the mother discovering them? Greg’s trick and his meanness?
14. The baby, the jokes, potty?
15. Putting on the Wizard of Oz, the auditions, Greg singing, the teacher, his voice too high, Pam wanting to be Dorothy, his being a tree, throwing the apples? The fiasco of the performance, his collapse? The reaction of the audience?
16. The bullies, coming into the school, the reaction of the authorities, making Rodrick eat the rotting cheese? Telling everyone? Greg and his owning up, doing the right thing, restoration of friendship with Rowley?
17. The other schoolchildren, the issue of the cheese, their gullibility, the curse of the cheese?
18. Greg and his learning lessons for life, lessons of mid school?
