Diary Of A Wimpy Kid (2010) Film Review: A Very Confident Coming Of Age Film

I think any kid today would be aware of the popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, which has had annual installments since 2007. I of course grew up with the books, but lost interest around 2014 or so, since there were just too many books and the character of Greg Heffley never seemed to evolve as a truly likeable character. Regardless, the worldwide success eventually brought the series on to the big screen with four films being released and Disney planning to create a series for their streaming service. The first film was released back in 2010, when the series was at the peak of its popularity and became a cult classic for fans. The film follows Greg Heffley as he enters middle school with the goal to become the most popular kid at school, while attempting to change his best friend Rowley to help his overall image. A lot of the events that occur in the book appear in live-action with accuracy, though there are new elements, characters, and characterization of established characters. There isn't an overarching narrative, taking the approach of a coming-of-age/slice-of-life tale, which is the best approach you can do for the film, something which the fourth film had a problem with. This could make the film appear to have a lack of real direction, mainly just an excuse to throw gags, but this is saved by the main focus on the friendship between Greg and Rowley. This film isn't knee-slapping funny, but it's more charming than most modern comedies.

Anyone can tell you that the actors were perfectly cast for their roles, which is important for any adaptation. Zachary Gordon is a great Greg Heffley by pulling the character off with a self-centred mindset, but he comes across as a real kid with how he acts a bit innocent in his delivery and the moments where he's truly enjoying himself. We all knew or at some point were like Greg in our lives, but we matured out of that phase, which he clearly learns to do by the end. Robert Capron as Rowley is another great casting choice as the childish yet good-hearted Rowley. He's so good that you almost think that Capron is just Rowley, despite that it's all an act. The chemistry between the two friends is where the heart of the film resides. We all probably had that friend or knew a friendship where the two are somewhat polar opposites and one almost tries to improve the other, despite there's none needed. You feel like this is a real friendship that is testing itself with the middle school environment. There are just too many side characters to list off though, but I will try to mention the important ones. The casting of everyone is all above the board perfect. From Devon Bostick's Roderick, the mean older brother, Steve Zahn's Frank, the quirky father, Rachael Harris's Susan, the supportive yet embarrassing mother, Karan Brar's Chirag Gupta, the small know-it-all, and Grayson Russell's Fregley, the weird kid. As for new and different characters, Chloe Grace Moretz plays Angie, an older student that tries giving advice to Greg and Russell, who never appeared in the books, and Laine McNell plays a much more bratty and aggressive Patty Farrell who is very different from the books. The cast is practically perfect, bringing a colourful and fantastic performances from the main and major supporting characters.

This is the only film in the franchise to be directed by Germain filmmaker, Thor Freudenthal, who hasn't had the greatest track record regarding his projects. It's understandable since he does at best a decent job. His directing is amateurish, as he doesn't try to be cinematic, but rather standard and down-to-earth. Basically, Thor's directing feels like a cheap TV movie or TV series, which this isn't supposed to be for a moderate-budget theatrical film based on a beloved series. On the other hand though, one can reason that this makes the film feel more real since it's not trying to be glossy or ambitious, which I can see. I do like how the film never shows us the city or anywhere that's not in Greg's neighbourhood, which is perhaps due to taking the slice-of-life approach and how the area surrounding Greg makes him learn overall. I like how Thor captures the settings of particular places with the school being absolute humiliating or judgy, Greg's house being a madhouse with his family in control of his torment, and the neighbourhood usually filled with sun though empty for our leads to walk and talk amongst each other. The score by Theodore Shapiro is generic, but the main theme is actually pretty catchy and works for the series, albeit it sounds a bit too much like the "Peanuts" theme. The soundtrack as a whole though is pretty good, using a variety of pop songs for certain moments that works well with the context, not like other films where it acts as an auditory transition to the next scene. I was mostly surprised by how I didn't cringe much rewatching the film. For me, the only scene that I didn't like was the mother and son dance event, which yes, is almost insufferable as Greg is experiencing, but it lasts way too long for me, and I really doubt that the dance moves from Rowley and his mother would really be hyped up rather than mocked at by the boys. If there is one thing that Thor should be proud of, it's that this is his best directing work on his resume.

"Diary of A Wimpy Kid" surprisingly holds not only as a good adaptation of the series, but also as a solid coming-of-age children's film. Sure, it's not super funny, the dance scene is cringe, and Thor's directing clearly needed more work, but the cast is simply fantastic, the friendship between Greg and Rowley is charming and believable, the slow pace of the coming-of-age formula mixes quiet well with the rapid fire approach of gags and silly events, the overall setting of the neighbourhood is fleshed out and self-contained, the soundtrack works well enough, and the film is overall just enjoyable to watch and reflect on. I may have grown out of the book series, but with my love of films as a whole, it helped rekindle a certain respect for them as well as the film itself.

Verdict: 7.5/10. Very good, but just like the source material and the protagonist, it won't ever be perfect, but that's just how it is.