Review of Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010) by Nick P — 28 Jul 2014

This is more like an immature, gross-out gag version of Saturday Night Live. I enjoyed the novel because of it's quirkiness and self-awareness. The main character, Greg, is starting his life in middle-school and begins writing in a diary (or as he calls it, a journal, to make it sound less feminine) depicting incidents and kooky embarrassments he endures throughout the course of the school year.

This adaptation definitely does capture a weirdness to it, but crushes it's overall potential with weak plot points and bad jokes. Most of all, none of the characters are likable, not even Greg himself. Instead, he is a whiny, incompetent silly little boy. Rowley, his best friend, is annoying and clueless, a cliche with many right-hand man characters to the protagonist. The parents are just as uptight and dull. The film doesn't make too much effort to be great and while it isn't a complete failure, Diary of a Wimpy Kid is perhaps too wimpy for it's own good.