Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
PLOT (spoiler alert!!!):
When Greg (Zachary Gordon) and his family attend a party at a roller rink, he reunites with his best friend Rowley (Robert Capron) and classmates Fregley (Grayson Russell) and Chirag (Karan Brar). He meets Holly Hills (Peyton List), who immediately becomes his love interest. Greg’s older brother Rodrick (Devon Bostick) tricks Greg into trying to skate with her and starts pursuading violent teenagers to enter the rink. Their mother (Rachael Harris) and father (Steve Zahn) misunderstand and humilate him by speaking to him on the speaker phone and carrying him off the rink.
Afterwards, Mom has noticed that the boys haven’t been getting along so she divises ”Mom Bucks” to pay them if they spend time together where they can trade in for one real dollar, but this unwittingly makes thing worse. Meanwhile, Greg and Rowley try to make a funny YouTube video by Rowley lip-synching to “Tik Tok” by Kesha, unfortunately (despite Rowley at one point sitting on a tinfoil ball with spikes made by Manny) it proves to be awful, getting only 4 hits. After a talent show is advertised on TV, the brothers see this as a big opportunity – Rowley suggests that he and Greg perform magic tricks, but Greg rejects the idea whilst Rodrick sees this as his band’s big break.
On Sunday, the Heffley family goes to church but Greg is extremely reluctant to go inside, as a melted 3 Musketeers chocolate bar, intentionally placed on his seat by Rodrick, has stained his trousers. Greg’s mom uses her blouse to cover up the stain, but the cover-up backfires when Rodrick exposes Greg’s pants. The boys ultimately end up in a scuffle on the floor and as punishment, they are to spend a whole weekend together to bond, while their parents leave on to Rockin’ Rapids. Against his parents’ orders, Rodrick hosts a party at the house and locks Greg in the basement. Rowley comes to “save” Greg, but Rodrick locks him in the basement as well, until a call from their mother results in Rodrick letting the two out, in return for their silence on the matter.
The next day,the two get a call from their mom, informing them that Manny is sick and they are returning early from their trip. The house is trashed, and the boys only have an hour to clean it up and erase all evidence of the party before their parents arrive home. When they see that one of the partygoers wrote on the bathroom door in permanent marker, they replace the door with a different one. Afterwards, Greg realizes that the new door does not have a lock, while the old one did. When their mother notices this, she confronts both boys individually. Greg confesses, but in order to prevent Rodrick from getting angry at him (, Rodrick said earlier “deny everything!”), he says the party was only a band rehearsal, and the two escape punishment. Rodrick thinks Greg denied everything, and the brothers become friends.
The boys go out for a night of fun, getting smoothies and pranking unsuspecting people. However, one prank goes too far and Coach Malone chases them into a mall. They escape by tricking him and return home laughing, only to find that their father has inadvertently come across photos of the party. Greg is grounded for two weeks with no video games and he will be sent to Spag Union Military School in South Park,Canada, and Rodrick is grounded for a month and is not allowed to participate in the talent show and will be sent to a military school in Ohio, USA. Greg tries to apologize but Rodrick only says that they are no longer friends. Then the boys spend the weekend with their grandfather in his retirement home. Greg writes his feelings about Holly in his diary, which Rodrick gets a hold of and reads out loud waking Greg up. Rodrick then threatens to tell Holly and runs towards the lobby to do so. Greg chases after Rodrick in his underwear and manages to snatch away the diary. He runs to the bathroom, rips out the pages of the diary, and flushes them down the toilet. He discovers he is in the ladies’ bathroom, but manages to escape the mob of angry women who think he is a “peeping tom”. However, he finds that Rodrick caught everything on tape via security camera and threatens to show it to everyone sooner or later.
At the talent show a few nights later, Rowley’s performance is unable to take place, as his eight-year-old assistant Scotty gets stage fright. Greg’s mom says Greg will do the show with Rowley, but Greg refuses, saying that he will look humiliated. When Rodrick goes to his band, Greg follows and watches Rodrick’s band member, Bill Walter, kick him out of the band he created. Greg bargains with his mom to allow Rodrick to perform, if he will perform with Rowley, which his mom accepts. Rodrick thanks their mom, sees Greg, and nods at him for letting him play. The magic show is a hit with the audience and Holly meets Greg and Rowley backstage to tell him she loved their show. However, Patty Farrel says it was “pathetic”. Rodrick and his band perform but the crowd is not impressed until they see Greg’s mom dancing, and start to dance along. Greg is happy for finally having fixed the problems with his family.
Rodrick drives Greg to school, as the boys have now forgiven each other. Rodrick also gives him a tape containing that “embarrassing moment” at Leisure Towers. The boys then create a new friendship, realizing it is fun to have a brother. Later, Greg and Rowely put the video of the talent contest on YouTube and calls it “Lame Band with Crazy Mom Dancing” which becomes an instant hit. Rodrick shouts that Greg is “so dead” and the film closes.
REVIEW:
Like many people, junior high was not exactly the best of times for me. Of course, it was nothing compared to the apparent living hell that Greg has to deal with in Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules.
This is the sequel to the surprise hit Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Apparently, these are very successful books and a third film is in production as I’m typing. I still haven’t read them, but I’ll get to that…eventually.
Picking up where the last film left off, everyone is now a year older, which means 7th grade. Before school starts, though, the family has an outing to the skating rink. Does anyone skate anymore? I’m just curious.
Anyway, in typical sibling rivalry, Greg and Rodrick do something to each other which gets Greg nearly trampled by these headbanger looking skaters. All of a sudden, mom comes on and…well, let’s just say the moment of embarrassment was nearly unwatchable.
This whole film revolves around the relationship and rivalry between the two, culminating when it comes out about a party that was thrown when the parents were away.
I won’t criticize the story, as I didn’t feel like there was anything wrong with it. My issue with this film is more of a continuation of issues that were prevalent in the first film. First, there is Greg. Again, this kid is about as unlikable as one can get without being the antagonist. This time, though, he isn’t hating on Rowley (although not wanting to be in his magic act was pretty low, in my opinion), but somehow decides Chiraq, another of his friends who goes to India with his parents for a couple of weeks is invisible. Somehow he gets the whole school to go along with this, too. I hate to say this, but the bad things that happen to this kid almost could be construed to karma.
Rodrick is your typical douche big brother. He has a much bigger role this time around. Of course, since his name is in the title, he better, right? He is actually almost more likable than Greg, which is a shame since he’s supposed to be more of a bad guy. Like I said, I haven’t read the books, so I don’t know if they are actually written like this, so it they aren’t then new actors or writers are needed to save these characters.
The mom (who is quite the MILF, btw) is just too overprotective for her own good. I say that because it is obvious she is meant to be some kind of caricature of mothers, but good grief! Some of the things this woman does are just way too embarrassing.
One thing I can’t help but mention is how this flick seems to be on the same level as its predecessor. What I mean by that is that there has been no growth in th filmmaking. It is almost as if they were filmed at the same time with the same equipment and everything. The only thing that has aged is the cast. The old adage that some things get better with age doesn’t necessarily apply here, either.
Thankfully, this film doesn’t get all sappy and preachy the way so many family films have the tendency to do. Yes, there is a moralistic tone at the end, but it is more of a happy ending than anything else.
Like it’s predecessor, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules is a surprisingly entertaining film, but is nothing to write home about. Sure, it is good family fun, but the obvious target audience for this is 4th graders (I’m estimating). I said that you’d be better served by watching an episode of Recess than watching the other film, but I won’t say that with this one. Just watch The Weekenders, instead. Seriously though, I can’t not recommend this, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to see it.
3 3/4 out of 5 stars
