Diary Of A Wimpy Kid

by Mark Demetrius | September 20, 2010 16:18 | Edited September 20, 2010 16:20

Slickly produced and packed with tired jokes, this family film is dismally unfunny.

This is based on the first in a series of illustrated novels by Jeff Kinney, which have sold 28 million copies worldwide. If it's a faithful adaptation, then there is surely no accounting for taste, because Diary Of A Wimpy Kid is slick, inane, dismally unfunny, maudlin, and has an excruciatingly "worthy" ending. It also boasts a tedious M.O.R. rock soundtrack.

The eponymous wimp is Greg Heffley (Zachary Gordon), whom we first encounter as he nervously faces his first day in middle school (sixth grade). The first problem here - apart from the chronic lines of dialogue that he's saddled with - is that he looks more like a future heartthrob than anyone especially wimpy. Greg's just rather short - but then, you tend to be when you're about eleven-years-old. At any rate, he is relegated to social leper level by his peers, and sinks still further in their estimation for befriending a fat boy called Rowley (Robert Capron). The humiliation doesn't stop at the school gates, as Greg is also bullied endlessly by his brother, Rodrick (Devon Bostick), who plays drums in a band called Loded Diper. (Pronounced "loaded diaper"...get it?)

All this might have the makings of a potent topic, were it not for the leaden jokes and tired set pieces, such as a trick-or-treat night; and a school production of The Wizard Of Oz in which Greg plays a tree. And then there's the absurd ongoing guff about a slice of cheese in the playground which guarantees pariah status to anyone who touches it. In an early self-referential monologue, Greg says, "Who wants to see a movie about a kid who's stuck in middle school with a bunch of morons?" Who indeed?