Diary of a Wimpy Kid

A few less booger jokes and Diary of a Wimpy Kid, based on the popular series of children’s books, could almost be a minor classic.

Greg Heffley (Zachary Gordon) is starting his first day of 6th grade. He wants to be popular, but he doesn’t quite know how to go about it. His longtime best pal Rowley (Robert Capron) has no such aspirations. He’s just happy to do his thing.

“Want to come over to my house to play?” says the sunny Rowley.

“It’s not play,” hisses Greg. “It’s hang out.”

Later, while hiding under the bleachers from a particularly brutal gym game called Gladiators, Greg and Rowley meet school outcast Angie Steadman (the Jodie Foster-esque Chloe Moretz). She snarks on everyone, works for the school paper, wears funky clothes. Rowley thinks she’s awesome. Greg thinks she’s social suicide.

I laughed a lot during this film, especially in a scene where Rowley and his mom gleefully get down to the Beastie Boy’s “Intergalactic” at a school dance and another one that showed the awkward growth spurts the 6th graders endured over the summer.

Ultimately, Diary of a Wimpy Kid is about that realization that all the freaks and weirdos of middle school are actually the coolest kids going. Now that’s a message I can get behind.