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Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010)

tomatometer

53

Average Rating: 5.5/10
Reviews Counted: 103
Fresh: 55 | Rotten: 48

Unlike its bestselling source material, Diary of a Wimpy Kid fails to place a likable protagonist at the center of its middle-school humor -- and its underlying message is drowned out as a result.

57

Average Rating: 5.8/10
Critic Reviews: 23
Fresh: 13 | Rotten: 10

Unlike its bestselling source material, Diary of a Wimpy Kid fails to place a likable protagonist at the center of its middle-school humor -- and its underlying message is drowned out as a result.

audience

48

liked it
Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 95,181

My Rating

Movie Info

Hapless preteen Greg Heffley (Zachary Gordon) endures bullies, swirlies, morons, and wedgies while navigating the treacherous world of middle school and recording his traumas in his personal journal in this family-oriented comedy inspired by author Jeff Kinney's best-selling series of illustrated novels. Try as he might, Greg just can't understand who thought it was a good idea to place kids who haven't even hit their first growth spurt in the same school as kids who get a five-o'clock shadow by

PG, 1 hr. 32 min.

Comedy, Kids & Family

Jackie Filgo, Jeff Filgo

Aug 3, 2010

$64.0M

20th Century Fox

Cast

All Critics (103) | Top Critics (23) | Fresh (55) | Rotten (48) | DVD (7)

The young cast is all game, and sidekicks Robert Capron and Grayson Russell are a real hoot. Slumber party viewings are inevitable.

April 6, 2010 Comment
New York Daily News
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Too soon though -- maybe 30 minutes in -- audience laughs turn to chuckles, fading to worn smiles.

March 19, 2010 Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | Comment
Globe and Mail
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Looks drab and drained of color, and can't even muster the antic buoyancy of an average episode of iCarly.

March 19, 2010 Comment (1)
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The problem with Diary of a Wimpy Kid is the wimpy kid is a jerk.

March 19, 2010 Full Review Source: Detroit News | Comments (6)
Detroit News
Top Critic IconTop Critic

What sets this kid comedy apart is how well it resists the temptation to clobber the bullies and crown the underdog.

March 19, 2010 Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | Comment
Dallas Morning News
Top Critic IconTop Critic

What the movie gets right, sometimes in agonizing detail, are the humiliations and horrors of school...

March 19, 2010 Full Review Source: MSN Movies | Comment

If you're a parent who's been forced to sit through a barren desert of painfully unfunny family comedies, Diary will feel like an oasis.

February 10, 2012 Full Review Source: Cinematical | Comment
Cinematical

Zachary Gordon, as the wimpy kid of the title, seems to be aiming for a Ferris Buehler-esque omniscience and superiority and, while he doesn't quite pull it off all the way, I was down for his struggle.

April 4, 2011 Full Review Source: Movies.com | Comment
Movies.com

A fairly forgettable and polarizing comedy that's strictly targeted to the preteen boys of the audience, all of whom are convinced this is how middle is and will be like...

December 3, 2010 Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | Comment
Cinema Crazed

The characters (through no fault of the young performers) have all the personality of hand puppets.

September 23, 2010 Full Review Source: sbs.com.au | Comment
sbs.com.au

Conveys, in a good-humoured, sharply observed way, the small, painful cruelties and unpredictable rules of early adolescence, and it celebrates awkwardness without feeling the need to convert it into cheap triumph.

September 23, 2010 Full Review Source: The Age (Australia) | Comment
The Age (Australia)

The film retains much of the original humour, some of it well executed. It's reasonably faithful to the spirit of the books, probably because Kinney is the executive producer, but it's by no means equal to his originals.

September 23, 2010 Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald | Comment
Sydney Morning Herald

Perceptive, funny, unusually edgy voyage into the comic travails of schoolyard politics and childhood friendship.

September 22, 2010 Full Review Source: The Age (Australia) | Comment
The Age (Australia)

Performances from the young cast are arguably a little too slick and knowing for the naive characters they are playing, but that is often par for the course in American films these days.

September 22, 2010 Full Review Source: Herald Sun (Australia) | Comment
Herald Sun (Australia)

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?

September 20, 2010 Full Review Source: FILMINK (Australia) | Comment
FILMINK (Australia)

All right all you 8 - 12 year olds, get in line for some fun at Greg Heffley's expense.

September 17, 2010 Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | Comment
Urban Cinefile

While the blackness of many situations resonates and despite some amusing moments, the film's tone is so ardent and realistic, it often works against it. Nonetheless, this coming of age film for the under 12 set has merit and charm

September 17, 2010 Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | Comment
Urban Cinefile

[A] sappy and superficial adaptation...

September 1, 2010 Full Review Source: This is London | Comment
This is London

The film's wry wit and understanding of childhood anxieties will remind older viewers of the television series The Wonder Years which is no small compliment.

August 30, 2010 Full Review Source: Daily Express | Comment
Daily Express

Though the film sags a little in places, it imparts its be-true-to-yourself life lessons with sweetness and charm...

August 30, 2010 Full Review Source: Scotsman | Comment

As my son says, 'The books were a lot better.'

August 27, 2010 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment (1)
Movie Metropolis

One for the kids, if they're really misbehaving.

August 27, 2010 Full Review Source: Independent | Comment
Independent

This movie relishes in the awkwardness of starting life in the bottom year of a new school.

August 27, 2010 Full Review Source: Sun Online | Comment
Sun Online

Bright, pacy and often funny (despite an over-reliance on poop jokes), Diary Of A Wimpy Kid never patronises children and should be a hit with pre-teen boys.

August 27, 2010 Full Review Source: Daily Mirror [UK] | Comment
Daily Mirror [UK]
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Diary of a Wimpy Kid

I didnt get this movie. My daughter loved it. I just well It just annoyed the hell out of me.

April 8, 2010
jmanard52

Super Reviewer

Really? Can scatology replace real humor?

July 27, 2011
spielberg00
Alexander Diminiano

Super Reviewer

    1. Angie Steadman: It's completely barbaric. This place is an intellectual wasteland. But it's nice to meet a person more interested in his mind than his body.
    – Submitted by Brian A (6 months ago)
    1. Manny Heffley: Bubby!
    – Submitted by Kelvin A (9 months ago)
    1. Patty Farrell: This has got to be the worst fight ever!
    – Submitted by rob g (11 months ago)
    1. Chirag Gupta: Good God, man. You almost got the Cheese Touch!
    – Submitted by rob g (11 months ago)

Latest News for Diary of a Wimpy Kid

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March 19, 2010:
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This week at the movies, we've got a scheming tween (Diary of a Wimpy Kid, starring Zachary Gordon...

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Foreign Titles

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