Diary of a Wimpy Kid

admin | August 25, 2010 | Comments (0)

DIR: Thor Freudenthal • WRI: Jackie Filgo, Jeff Filgo, Gabe Sachs, Jeff Judah • PRO: Nina Jacobson, Bradford Simpson • DOP: Jack N. Green • ED: Wendy Greene Bricmont • DES: Brent Thomas • CAST: Zachary Gordon, Robert Capron, Rachael Harris, Steve Zahn, Devon Bostick

It must be hard for people making coming-of-age movies for an audience that is actually coming of age. With so many filmmakers looking back on their schooldays in films aimed at other adults who want to do the same, how will your film succeed if it doesn’t want to deliver on nostalgia and edgy adult humour? Case in point: Diary of a Wimpy Kid. It’s about Greg (Zachary Gordon), and his quest to become as popular as he believes he ought to be on his first days in middle school. Judging from the film (and a quick confirmation on Wikipedia) middle school is roughly equivalent to the first few years of secondary school.

It took me a little while to figure out whom the film is aimed at. Has it been made for an audience fondly (or bitterly) remembering that time of life or one that is going through it right now? When it starts with Greg bemoaning his lot directly into the camera the first thing you’ll think of is Malcolm in the Middle, but it soon becomes clear that the film isn’t nearly funny or clever enough for the similarity to be anything more than superficial. The broad sit-com acting finally tipped me off that the film is in fact aimed at a much younger audience, so more Drake and Josh than Malcolm. And I think this is important because a younger audience will approach Diary of a Wimpy Kid with a much shorter list of requirements and the film meets those requirements adequately.

Once I settled down into it, the film slowly started to win me over. It’s still not funny enough, but there are a few very funny gags – most of them coming from Devon Bostick as Greg’s older brother. I especially enjoyed an exchange between Greg and his terminally uncool best friend Rowley (Robert Capron) about how many of a back pack’s straps it’s cool to use. The animated sequences are an obvious homage to the original comic and they don’t really add anything to the mix. They’re likeable enough though and they tie in quite nicely with the soundtrack which is occasionally reminiscent of Vince Guaraldi’s superb jazz scores for the Charlie Brown movies.

Of course, lessons are learned along the way, but the lesson is one that I think is good to see in a kids’ movie. When success in life means popularity, that success is both fleeting and futile. If the consequences don’t last beyond the Leaving Cert what does it matter if you’re popular or not so you may as well just do and be what you feel like. I wish someone had told me that when I was a kid.

Geoff McEvoy

Rated 12A (see IFCO website for details)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid is released on 27th August 2010

Diary of a Wimpy Kid – Official Website