Directed by Thor Freudenthal.
Starring: Zachary Gordon, Chloe Moretz, Steve Zahn, Rachael Harris, Robert Capron, Devon Bostick, Grayson Russell.
Plot: Live-action adaptation of Jeff Kinney’s illustrated novel about a wise-cracking sixth grade student.
Live-action adaptation of Jeff Kinney’s illustrated novel about a wise-cracking junior high school student.
Release date: 20th Aug 2010
Yet another movie based on a kids book. I’ve noticed that this book has been so popular in the library amongst young kids!
For anyone that missed out on the free Sky tickets, Vue Cinemas are showing previews of this film as part of the Kids Am on Sat 21 & Sun 22 Aug for 95p as well as their scheduled Kids AM film.
http://www.myvue.com/cinemas/film_info_ … 829|6478|0
Going to see this as our first free screening this Sunday, looks quite amusing! Hope they haven’t put all the best bits in the trailer though…
I just got up so that was that… Not fussed though, trailer looked horrible anyway.
It’s about 10% full at Greenwich.
umm..what can I say? It’s a kids film and it’s squarely aimed at kids. You get all the usual cliches about your first day/week/year at middle school. I am really struggling to think of something new or inventive about this film. The dialogue’s very cliched and poor Steve Zahn, what is he doing in a film like this??? 2/10 for me, maybe 6/10 if you are under 10…..
Good way to spend a Sunday morning when you don’t want your brain taxing: Leeds/Bradford about 60/70% full and film quite well received.
Cinema seems to be slowly falling apart – escalator still not working, ditto ladies’ loos upstairs. Trailers for new films shown without switching sound from background music… maybe the projectionist wasn’t quite awake?
Nice to catch up with Cortone.
7.5/10 from me.
Watch this at Southampton in a half filled cinema. The kids enjoyed it but us adults were wondering why we were here,cos it was free…lol…
Kingston was probably less than 20% full.
Really slow and nothing really new just the normal take on starting a new school and trying to fit in or stand out for the right reasons. Very few lol moments and at one stage I did think it would be nice to go off to sleep and I mentally started to make a list of all the others things I could have been doing.
Maybe better suited for a lazy Saturday afternoon when its raining outside and you can’t find anything else to watch but to be honest even then I would struggle to stick with it.
4/10 from us I’m afraid
Lol….I soooo had the same feeling, I had so many better things to do then to sit there watching this, maybe because it was just a really early Sunday morning and I had to travel quite far to get to a very empty cinema to watch a very below average film.
Well my first screening, shouldn’t complain really but it wasn’t the best. Thought Fregley was quite amusing though! We all had a kid like that at school? 3/10 for me. About 50% full in Coventry, one of the smaller screens though.
Was quite average but not absolutely awful. I just felt that nothing much really happened. And that girl that was in Kick Ass didn’t really have much of a role. Are they planning a series of these diaries to follow the character as he gets older?? I can then see the potential character development for some of the supporting parts as well as the lead. As part of a series of films then it could make sense, but as a standalone piece, well its all a bit ‘meh’. I’m quite indifferent towards it.
These 10.30am Sunday morning starts are a bit trying if you are not in the mood but I managed to get out of the house on time today. A lot of families in the audience – wonder if the kids liked it better. 5/10.
The Odeon in Edinburgh was only about 20% full but perhaps it was because (for once) it was a lovely sunny Sunday morning. Not many kids in the audience. The teenage girls sitting near us thought it funny and it was aimed more at 12 years olds than younger children. Some quite funny moments but wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.
Nice to chat to Aylthonian.
5/10
Phew, looks like my instincts were right and I had a lucky escape!
What did you do instead?
I didn’t go, sent the ‘family’… they said Odeon Holloway was pretty empty and the film wasn’t very good.
Had a lie-in.
I didn’t think it was that bad, probably just okay
I think the film’s going to sink without a trace unfortunately
yikes….glad we stayed in bed
Holloway was 10% full. Didn’t mind going, as cinema is so near. Lovely grand cinema (it is a listed building) and lots of leg room and seats comfy – we sat in the premier seats. A little girl and her mum was sat in the same row as me. The little girl told me I was sat in seat number 10, which will be her age next birthday. She said she was really looking forward to the film as she had read the book. The mum told me that they were given the tix by her cousin who lived outside London and the cousin is always getting tickets. Before I could ask if her cousin was a FMUKer, the film started.
The film was nothing to shout home about, it was ok. Predictable story line of wanting to be popular and fit in at a new school. Hit Girl was in it and I did wish she would kick some ass to spike up the film though! 5/10.
Shame the little girl left before I could ask whether it was much like the book, but did I hear her giggle quite a bit, so she must have enjoyed it.
I’m glad I decided to sleep until 9am yesterday instead of going all the way to Lee Valley to watch this.
Did you see my mum and aunty?
This was a reasonable idea badly thought out and badly pulled together.
It just didn’t work. It didn’t flow, it wasn’t wholly believable and was just pretty dull. Underused Hit Girl and overused the male lead who was a precocious twat; yes it was his story in the book but the film would have been better with less of him! he was generally unlikeable and unconvincing.
Edinburgh was the emptiest I’ve seen for many years. Few kids and they would be the target audience!
4.5/10 from me.
i really disliked this film. i think it is one of the worst children’s film’s i’ve seen in a long time – and i have seen ‘the squekquel’. although the nephew (aged 10) enjoyed it. but 2 mins after we left the cinema didn’t mention it again and we spent the day together. usu if he really likes a film he goes on for ages. so i’d say 1/10 for me and 5/10 from him.
i think alythonian has given a good summary of this film. but he /she is so much more generous a scorer than me!
It just didn’t work. It didn’t flow, it wasn’t wholly believable and was just pretty dull. Underused Hit Girl and overused the male lead who was a precocious twat; yes it was his story in the book but the film would have been better with less of him! he was generally unlikeable and unconvincing.
Edinburgh was the emptiest I’ve seen for many years. Few kids and they would be the target audience!
4.5/10 from me.
I actually didn’t mind this film, and the kids enjoyed it as well. Saw it at Trafford which was about half full. Annoyed though as they started the film early and we missed the start
7/10
I just wonder why Sky would pick a film like this to preview? I guess they want to be even more family orientated by offering films like this and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice etc. I wonder if someone from Sky watches it first before offering it up as a free screening?
Did you see my mum and aunty?
No, I was too busy chatting to the little girl and her mum.
I did look around when I sat down to see if I knew anyone though, so unless they came in later when I was busy chatting!
Did you see my mum and aunty?
No, I was too busy chatting to the little girl and her mum.
I did look around when I sat down to see if I knew anyone though, so unless they came in later when I was busy chatting!
I asked if they saw you and they said they were late so it was dark!!! Tut tut.
Watched this at Odeon Greenwich, only 20% full. Thought I’d have a few seats too myself so I can fidget as much as I can but some man came out of nowhere a minute prior to the film starting and sat down next to me even though so many other good seats were free!!!!!!!
There was also a really selfish couple in the back row with a baby of no more than 1 years old who cried throughout the movie and it didn’t occur to them once to leave the screen for a few minutes to calm the child down but instead make everyone else endure the baby’s cry! 
I didn’t think the movie was as bad as you some of you guys rated it! It wasn’t great and there were some boring and completely pointless parts but I think it’s a good movie for young children, especially those settling into school and who could probably relate to this. This book is a really popular book amongst the young people I work with and I have noticed all of them to be of secondary school age. I haven’t read the book myself so am unsure how much it relates to the film but from speaking to some of the children who have read it, it does seem to be quite similar.
I agree with opas though – hit girl’s character was completely pointless and she added no value to the story at all. They should have perhaps left her for the next film or integrated her role abit more. I thought Rawley’s character was quite cute although abit too dumb at times. Greg as a character was really annoying and I didn’t have any sympathy for him whatsoever. Just seemed like a selfish brat!
I thought some of the humour was quite dry and childish although reminded me abit of Death at a Funeral (which is a film I really disliked) and there seemed to be alot of focus on that rather than focussing the message of being yourself and not caring about what others think whilst at school (which I think the book focuses on alot more).
My friend who watched it with me seemed to have loved it! (I think that’s because he related to being a wimpy kid
especially the cheese touch which he is constantly going on about still 
)
@ opas, yeh there will be a second film, I hope it will be alot better.
My score would be 6/10 but I do agree with whoever wrote that this would rather be best suited for a rainy Sunday afternoon when there is nothing else to do!
oh no…. not a sequel pls…
I’m not sure if it will be a sequel or a series of films to go with the books. I know there’s a set of books!
Got this on dvd, don’t know when I’ll watch it !!
On a rainy Sunday afternoon!
Lol, I guess there will be plenty of those once I’m back in London
When you back?
When you back?
Mid September!
Not long to go!! Make sure your DVD works here too!
It will!! The kind of DVDs we have here works everywhere … if you know what I mean
Well really thank God I didn’t attend then, saved me from going to prison for a triple murder!
I am surprised you are still with us, a_person…
Saw this in Braehead, not that full maybe about 20%, I rather enjoyed this, I just put myself back into the shoes of my 9yr old self again and saw the funny side to most of the humour. Not a bad movie just not a cinema movie, more like a channel 5 / Dvd sunday afternoon movie.
It’s universally been like 10-20% full for the free screenings, thats not a good sign for when people have to pay to watch the film!
I am surprised you are still with us, a_person…
I was too tired to argue with someone on a Sunday morning and also partially annoyed with the guy who came and sat next to me, I had to sit like a lady and was unable to fidget throughout the film.
Also, nobody seemed fussed with the child crying like it’s normal for babies to come to screenings and to cry. Although there were alot of parents with kids (but they were good kids, they were big and they behaved!). The father of the crying kid also had the audacity to give me a dirty look because I turned around and gave his partner a dirty look for putting the crying baby on the floor and not taking it out of the screen. If I were to tell him to take his child outside, I think it would have got pretty messy…..
I actually really missed you for once at a screening Beate and wished so hard you were there. I know if you were there, you would have used your German-ness on the kid and it would have just shut it.
LOL, my German-ness? Not sure that’s a compliment….
Definitely meant in as a compliment!
Watched this last weekend at the Odeon Lothian Road, Edinburgh. Surprisingly, my fist visit to this venue and I soon found out why … Sunday morning 10am and couldn’t find a parking spot anywhere near the place. City-centre previews and the Edinburgh Festival just don’t mix! Not impressed by what was undoubtedly the latest Odeon corporate ‘look’, in fact (as commented by many others) the lighting levels as you enter the screen (4 I think) are ridiculously low.
Anyway, on to the screening – no more than half full – surprising for a freebie (maybe the parking was a factor?). Must admit I was expecting something along the lines of Malcolm in the Middle/The Wonder Years but believe me, this movie isn’t in the same league.
Okay, I’m not exactly its target audience but I couldn’t find one redeeming feature that would appeal across the age-groups. Diary of a Wimpy Kid is clearly a churn ‘em out summer movie – plotless, humourless – a disappointing 3/10 for me.