Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (film)

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	David Bowers
Produced by	Nina Jacobson Brad Simpson Ethan Smith
Screenplay by	Jeff Filgo Jeff Judah Gabe Sachs
Based on	Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney
Narrated by	Zachary Gordon
Starring	Zachary Gordon Devon Bostick Robert Capron Rachael Harris Steve Zahn Connor and Owen Fielding Peyton R. List Karan Brar Grayson Russell Laine MacNeil Terence Kelly Fran Kranz
Music by	Edward Shearmur
Cinematography	Jack N. Green
Editing by	Troy Takaki
Studio	Color Force Sachs/Judah Productions Amulet Books Dune Entertainment
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	March 25, 2011 (2011-03-25)
Running time	100 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$21 million[1]
Box office	$71,906,570

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (known in the United Kingdom as Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2: Rodrick Rules) is a 2011 comedy film based on the book Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, written by Jeff Kinney. The film stars Zachary Gordon and Devon Bostick. Robert Capron, Rachael Harris, Steve Zahn, and Peyton List also have prominent roles. It is the sequel to 2010's Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

Plot

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. While attempting to skate with Holly, Greg's older brother Rodrick (Devon Bostick) intervenes, ending with their mother (Rachael Harris) and father (Steve Zahn) humiliating him. 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 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, whilst their parents leave on a holiday. 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 vacation. 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, 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 Rodrick is grounded for a month and is not allowed to participate in the talent show. Greg tries to apologize but Rodrick only says that they are no longer friends. Then Greg and Rodrick 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 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.

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 humiliating. When Rodrick goes to his band, Greg follows and watches Rodrick's band member, Bill Walter, kick him out of the band he created and. 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 backstage to tell him she loved their show. 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 containg that "embarassing moment" at Leisure Towers. The boys then created a new friendship, realizing it's fun to have a brother. Greg puts 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.

Cast

• Zachary Gordon as Greg Heffley
• Devon Bostick as Rodrick Heffley
• Robert Capron as Rowley Jefferson
• Rachael Harris as Susan Heffley
• Steve Zahn as Frank Heffley
• Peyton List as Holly Hills
• Karan Brar as Chirag Gupta
• Grayson Russell as Fregley
• Laine MacNeil as Patty Farrell
• Terence Kelly as Grandpa
• Fran Kranz as Bill Walter
• Andrew McNee as Coach Malone
• Connor and Owen Fielding as Manny Heffley
• John Shaw as Mr. Huff
• Alf Humphreys as Mr. Jefferson
• Jakob Davies as Scotty Douglas
• Conner Ingram as Young Rodrick
• Jeff Kinney (The real-life author of the series) as Mr. Hills

Production

Talks of a sequel were announced after the release of the first, but wasn't officially announced until May 12, 2010, announcing that it would be released March 25, 2011.^[2]

Filming took place in Vancouver, British Columbia and New Westminster, British Columbia from August 23 to October 27, 2010.^[3] The mall scene was filmed at Park Royal Mall in West Vancouver.^{[citation needed]} Director Thor Freudenthal was replaced by director David Bowers (Flushed Away and Astro Boy).

Promotion

The film's trailer was shown with Gulliver's Travels on December 25, 2010. It was later online on January 3, 2011. A poster was released there after on January 14, 2011. In February 2011, an exclusive online-only trailer was released on the "Wimpy Kid Movie" YouTube channel, officialwimpmovie. Due to the success of the first film in Singapore, the film was released there eight days before the US release on March 17, 2011.^[4] A TV spot of the movie was released in March 2011.

Release

Box office

The film made $7,300,000 on its opening day, ranking #2 behind Sucker Punch. The film managed to rank #1 in the weekend box office.^[5] In the UK, It was #3 in the UK weekend box office behind Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and The Hangover Part II.

Reception

The film has received mixed reviews; it currently holds a 47% 'Rotten' rating on Rotten Tomatoes.;^[6] also holds a "53" on Metacritic, triggering "Mixed or average reviews."

Robert Abele of the Los Angeles Times gave the film a positive review saying, "Director David Bowers keeps things peppy and brightly lighted, but the movie's swiftest pleasures come from moment-seizing cast members." Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it a positive review saying, "A little less wimpy, gives value lessons to the watchers from the cast, and still pretty funny" and a B rating. Pete Hammond of Boxoffice magazine gave it a mixed review stating "Even better than the first edition, in its own sitcom-ish ways."

However, Michael O'Sullivan of the Washington Post gave it a negative review (38 on Metacritic) stating "You can't fault the filmmakers for reshaping a diary into a cohesive film. You can however, fault them for taking one of the great antiheroes in preteen literature and turning him into, well, an even wimpier kid."

Home media

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules was released on a stand-alone DVD, a special edition double DVD pack, and a Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy combo pack on June 21, 2011.

One of the bonus shorts was shown during iParty with Victorious on Nickelodeon at 8:00 PM on June 11, 2011.

References

1. ^ "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=diaryofawimpykid2.htm. Retrieved March 24, 2011. 
2. ^ 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' Sequel to Bow Next March. Moviefone.com. Retrieved 2011-01-15.
3. ^ "BCFC Film List". British Columbia Film Commission. October 2, 2011. Archived from the original on October 27, 2010. http://liveweb.archive.org/http://www.bcfilmcommission.com/database/rte/files/Film%20List%20-%20October%2026,%202010.pdf. Retrieved October 2, 2011. 
4. ^ 'Wimps rule, movie opens 8 days ahead of US. StraitsTimes.com. Retrieved 2011-03-16.
5. ^ "Weekend Report: 'Wimpy Kid' Blindsides 'Sucker Punch'". http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3125. Retrieved March 28, 2011. 
6. ^ Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules at Rotten Tomatoes

External links

• Official website
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules at the Internet Movie Database
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules at AllRovi
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules at Box Office Mojo
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules at Rotten Tomatoes