There
is a part of everyone that will love Diary of a Wimpy Kid, based on the
popular series of children’s books by Jeff Kinney. Adults will be amused, but
there are moments when you can feel the theater shake with boys' laughter.
Over-all, Diary of a Wimpy Kid sticks close to the books on which it is
based, except for the stick figures.
The plot is straightforward enough, Greg Heffley (Zachary
Gordon ) is starting his first day of 6th grade. He wants to be
popular, but he doesn’t know how to go about it. His longtime best pal Rowley (Robert
Capron) could not care less about popularity, he's happy being
himself. Heffley is not the shortest student in his class, just second shortest
being Chirag Gupta. Also, he is at that awkward age when everybody else has
started to grow, but not him. Adolescence is awkward, it is also amusing as long
as you're not the one going through it at the time.
It is the time most kids start noticing the opposite sex, and the girl who
notices Greg and Rowley is Angie (Chloe
Moretz), who seems wise beyond her years. It is fairly obvious they
don't realize the difference between boys and girls yet. Or maybe they still
don't care. Angie is light-years ahead of the boys, the meet her under the
bleachers, reading Howl by Allen Ginsberg, a sure sign there is something
deep going on inside her head.
Like every middle school, there is plenty to learn; like how to fit in with
cliques, and avoid the cruelty and bullying. The best sequence is about a slice
of Swiss cheese that was dropped on the playground long ago and has a
protective, foreboding coating of mold. It was touched once, and the unfortunate
kid who touched it was social pariah, he had the Cheese Touch. The only way to
get rid of the stigma was to touch someone else and give it to them. Ah, the
evil joys of a typical middle school.
The film is directed by
Thor
Freudenthal, who also directed Hotel For Dogs. He does a
solid job on kid-friendly films that are aimed at the right audience. Anybody
too young to drive will love this movie. If you're the one driving to the
theater, well, if you remember middle school,
you'll chuckle too.
Riveting Riffs Magazine's Film Editor Barry Benintende is a freelance
journalist living in