Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (2011)

"What did I say about being civil to one another? That's all I asked of you!"

Director

David Bowers

Cast

Zachary Gordon - Greg Heffley

Devon Bostick - Rodrick Heffley

Rachel Harris - Susan Heffley

Steve Zahn - Frank Heffley

Robert Capron - Rowly Jefferson

Peyton List - Holly Hills

I admit this is more of a rant than a review. No matter. It needs to be ranted.

I'm making one major leap after reviewing "A Man for All Seasons" about the last years of St. Thomas More in my last post. Now, I'm on to the 2011 movie "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules." That's like eating a $50 steak dinner at an exquisite fine dining establishment one day, to settling for a prepackaged peanut butter and jelly sandwich from the freezer section at Wal-Mart the next day. 

"Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules" is the second movie in a tetralogy all based on junior fiction books by Jeff Kinney. 

I watched this movie the other day with my kids and felt compelled to say something about it. In a word, it's garbage and I'm sorry I let my children see it. What's worse is that they want to watch it again.

I've listened to Kinney's "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" audiobooks with my own kids. I admit I've gotten a few laughs out of them. I didn't necessarily mind them. 

Like the books, the movies center around young Greg Heffley and his experiences with his family, particularly his older brother, Rodrick. The stories also depict his experiences with school, his friend Rowley, his crushes, his pursuit in trying to be noticed, and his life in general as a kid.

When it comes to the movies, I admit I enjoyed watching the 2010 movie "Diary of a Wimpy Kid." I saw it a few years after its DVD release out of curiosity. While it has a lot of weak spots thanks to poor writing, and the main character makes a lot of poor nonsensical decisions even for a kid, it still has some entertainment value. It's far from perfect yet more grounded in reality then it lets on. 

In fact, the first Diary flick reminds me a bit of the 1983 movie "A Christmas Story" about young Ralphie Parker and his quest for a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas. I think the similarities as I see them are due to Heffley's constant fantasies similar to Parker's as both characters are in pursuit of something for themselves. Each story, too, is told from the kid's point of view. 

This second movie, however, is absolute garbage. 

In this story, Greg (Zachary Gordon) and Rodrick (Devon Bostick) don't get along just like in the first movie. 

Their mom Susan (Rachel Harris) is desperate to have her two oldest boys just learn how to be nice to each other. Now that she writes a regular column in the newspaper about good parenting, she thinks having two kids who constantly fight doesn't look good for someone who gives regular parenting advice. 

As Greg is going on to the seventh grade, he's also starting to notice girls. In particular, he has his eyes on the new girl at school, Holly Hills (Peyton List). So, as usual he puts in too much effort to present himself as anything other than his true self. 

Rodrick, meanwhile, has his heart set on entering his band "Loded Diper" into a local talent show. He thinks it'll lead to the band's big break.

All the while, the Heffley's are planning a fun weekend trip to Rockin' Rapids waterpark. But after Greg and Rodrick get in a fight right in the middle of a church service of all places, Susan and their dad Frank (Steve Zahn) decide to take their three-year old son Manny (Connor and Owen Fielding) instead and leave Greg and Rodrick home as punishment. 

Zachary Gordon and Devon Bostick.

The parents inform the two, particularly Rodrick, that under no circumstances are they allowed to have anybody over while they're away. 

Of course, Rodrick completely ignores them and throws a party. He tries to get Greg out of the way by locking him in the basement. 

Greg calls his buddy Rowley Jefferson (Robert Capron) to help get him out. Nothing gets passed Rodrick, evidently. He puts Rowley in the basement with Greg. So, now he's in on the gig. 

But when mom calls to check on how things are going, both Greg and Rodrick answer the phone. Rodrick lies and claims everything is fine. Greg slyly hints to his brother on the other end, while mom is listening, that he either let him out of the basement or he'll spill the beans about the party. You know...blackmail. 

So, Greg and Rowley join in on the fun while taking candid pictures of the party. The next morning, the two brothers are awoken by the phone ringing. The house is trashed...as is the front lawn. 

Susan lets them know that they'll be home early because Manny got sick. In fact, they'll be home in an hour. 

As Greg and Rodrick frantically try to clean the house and yard within an hour, they're forced to replace the bathroom door which someone graffitied "Rodrick Rules" on with a door stored in the basement. The spare door has no lock. The bathroom door does. 

Within minutes of finishing up, Susan, Frank and Manny walk in. 

It looks as though the two boys are in the clear. And they convince their folks that they've gotten along all weekend alone together.

Rodrick has one piece of advice to Greg should mom and dad become suspicious. 

"Deny! Deny! Deny," he says. 

When Susan discovers there's no lock on the bathroom door, she goes to Rodrick who acts like the door never had a lock. 

Seeing that her own son is full of crap, she goes to Greg who breaks under the pressure. 

Greg spills the beans, but he pleads with her to let it slide as he and his brother are actually getting along for a change. 

Of course, she reluctantly agrees thinking it's better that they're acting like real brothers rather than punish Rodrick telling one lie after another her lie, getting his little brother to lie as well, and blatantly disobeying her and his father right to their faces. Susan doesn't say a word about it to her husband. 

Frank remains in the dark and continues to be just as baffled as she was about the bathroom door. 

Now, Greg and Rodrick start spending time together. He tries to give Greg advice in impressing Holly. He even lets Greg hang out in his bedroom. 

When Frank discovers the party pictures while he and Susan are hosting her editors for dinner, he's justifiably angry that not only did Rodrick and Greg disobey and lied, but his own wife also kept it from him as well. 

Greg and Rodrick are now both grounded. Rodrick gets it worse than Greg. Not only is he grounded longer than his brother, but he's also not allowed to perform in the talent show.
And what does this poor excuse for a brother do? He blames this all on Greg.
"You're my brother. But you'll never be my friend," he says. Harsh!

When the talent show takes place, which the Heffley's are attending, Loded Diper still performs but without Rodrick. 

He's been kicked out of his own band and replaced by another guitarist. 

Rowley is also performing a magic routine in the show, which he's been practicing throughout the movie. He wanted Greg to be his assistant. The selfish, self-centered garbage kid, Greg, couldn't be bothered putting himself out for a friend though he constantly asks Rowley to do stupid things for him all the time.

Seeing that Rodrick is crestfallen, Greg tells his mom that if she lets Rodrick play in the show, he'll agree to be Rowley's magic assistant. She agrees. And everyone ends up happy in the end. A minor subplot in the movie is Greg attempting to become internet famous by using Rowley to do something embarrassing so he can record it and upload it on YouTube. 

In a mid-credit scene, Greg uploads an embarrassing video of his mom dancing badly at Rodrick's concert onto YouTube which goes viral. Again, Greg is a horrible kid. 

The Heffley's lie, and lie, and lie to each other throughout the movie, and come out happy and clean at the end. These aren't small white lies. These are big friggin' lies with bells and lights hanging off them. 

There are some small consequences. Namely, the consequence is Greg being blamed for everything in a Charlie Brown kind of scenario. 

The parents issue punishments but don't keep them. Again, in the end, everyone is happy even though each one of them lied, except Frank. He's just made to look like a clueless dad with no idea what's going on. 

The only decent character in the whole movie is Rowley, who tells Greg he can't lie to Mr. and Mrs. Heffley. Of course, Greg shuts him down. 

Rowley is the only character with a moral compass and conviction.  In the third movie, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days" Greg spends a weekend with the Jeffersons who are portrayed as overly loving, overprotective and well-intentioned. Greg can't relate to them in any way, and of course treats them like inconveniences despite the generosity and hospitality they show him. As far as Greg is concerned, they're a bunch of wet blankets. 

Through the film series, Rowley's dad considers Greg to be a bad influence, so the man has good insight. And yet, they manage to be the only likeable characters in the flick.

The Heffley's are all just stupid. Greg is stupid because he couldn't learn a lesson if his life depended on it. He's also stupid because he treats his own family like trash and doesn't seem to realize it. 

Rodrick is stupid because he's just clueless. Susan is stupid because she can't say no to her stupid kids, and succumbs to her kids' empty promises. And Frank is stupid because he can't seem to take any kind of charge over the family. 

They're presented as a typical American family. While I'd like to think they're not the typical American family, the scary truth is they might just be a depiction of typical American family. The idea that consequences for bad decisions are only what we decide them to be (a stupid idea far from reality) is way too common these days. That seems to be the "moral" of this story. This movie is completely empty. It's empty of humor. It's empty of anything worth retaining. It's empty of personality.

So, I apologize to my kids for allowing them to watch "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules."