Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (2011 film)

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	David Bowers
Screenplay by	Jeff Filgo Jeff Judah Gabe Sachs
Produced by	Nina Jacobson Brad Simpson Ethan Smith
Starring	Zachary Gordon Devon Bostick Rachael Harris Robert Capron Steve Zahn
Cinematography	Jack N. Green
Edited by	Troy Takaki
Music by	Edward Shearmur
Production companies	Color Force Dune Entertainment
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	March 25, 2011 (2011-03-25)
Running time	96 minutes
Country	Template:Film US
Language	English
Budget	$21 million
Box office	$24,400,000

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules is a 2011 American comedy film based on the book of the same name. Zachary Gordon, Robert Capron, Devon Bostick, Rachael Harris, Steve Zahn, Connor and Owen Fielding, Karan Brar, Laine MacNeil, and Grayson Russell all are reprising their roles from the first film. This marks the second film to feature Capron and List following 2010's The Sorcerer's Apprentice. It is the sequel to 2010's Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

Plot

The film opens with Greg having a family trip to a skating rink when he first meets Holly Hills (Peyton R. List), his love interest. Greg ties to ride with Holly in the skating rink until Greg's brother Rodrick ruins it.

As weeks go by, Greg's mom notices that the boys do not get along, and calls it to a family meeting. She tells them that earning "Mom Bucks" by doing favors for each other can trade in for real dollars. The boys compete to see who can earn the most mom bucks.

Greg invites Rowley over to his house and them and Rodrick all discover that there will be a talent show soon. Rowley suggests him and Greg do magic tricks, while Rodrick sees this as his bands big break.

Greg and Rowley go upstairs to make a "viral video", which is Rowley lip-syncing "Tik Tok" by Ke$ha. The video is a success, but only for two days.

Greg (Zachary Gordon) and his family go to Church on a Sunday. As Greg steps out of the car, he notices a chocolate stain on the back of his pants from sitting on a melted 3 Musketeers bar. Greg's mother (Rachael Harris) uses her blouse to cover up Greg's rear. As they are walking down the church aisle, Rodrick (Devon Bostick) steps on the sleeve revealing the stain. A little girl (Delila Bela) screams "poop!" and Greg is embarrased in front of the whole church crowd.

Greg's parents go on a weekend vacation and leave Rodrick in charge so that the boys can learn to bond. Rodrick takes advantage of the opportunity and hosts a wild house party. The party backfires and the house is a mess. Greg and Rodrick team up to clean the house and have to put in a new bathroom door that has no lock. Mom notices there is no lock after a while and interrogates Rodrick and Greg. Greg rats on Rodrick, but gets him out scott free by saying it was just a band rehearsal, with no punishment. Rodrick, thinking Greg denied everything, tells Greg he's not as half as lame as he thought. Rodrick and Greg have become friends for the first time.

Rodrick takes Greg out to have fun, by placing fake vomit on people's cars. After a couple good pranks, Greg asks Rodrick for advice with Holly Hills. Rodrick tells him not to worry about it and gives him advise. The boys look over to see who they pranked, and it turns out to be Coach Malone. He chases the boys up until they put their jackets on mannequin at the mall. Coach Malone tackles the mannequin thinking it's the boys and the brothers escape.

They come back home and get busted with the party. Greg's mom told him that he told her it was just a band rehearsal. Rodrick then sees that Greg did not deny and Rodrick and went back to hating Greg.

The boys are punished with two weeks of grounding for Greg with no video games, and Rodrick is grounded for a month and could not compete in the talent show.

They are then dropped off at their Grandpa's. After getting tortured by his brother, Greg finds Holly Hills, and the two talk. The next morning, Greg hears Rodrick talking, and finds out he's reading his diary. He chases him when he says he's going to show Holly Hills what Greg wrote. Once he gets to the lobby, Greg realizes he is in his underwear, and carries a plant in front of him and grabs the diary. Once he's out of sight, Rodrick goes up stairs and records everything Greg is doing on the security cameras. Greg accidentally goes into the ladies room to hide, only to be caught by the elderly women and almost getting attacked by them. He escapes, goes back to his Grandpa's room, and Rodrick is holding the tape he just recorded to show Greg.

The next couple days, the family goes to the talent show. Rowley's partner has stage fright and decides not to assist Rowley. Greg's mom suggests Greg could fill in but Greg says no. Rowley then tells Greg's mom that he doesn't want to because he doesn't want Holly Hills to think less of him. His mom then asks Greg who Holly Hills is, and Greg says that she's just a friend who he doesn't want to be embarrassed in front of. The talent show starts and Greg notices that Rodrick is about to cry because his band won't get their big break. Pretty soon, Rodrick sees Bill Walter signalling him to come back stage. Rodrick goes and Greg follows. Greg watches as Bill Walter kicks him out of his own band. Rodrick argues as he started this band, but he's kicked out anyway. As Greg walks back, he finds his mom, whose been looking for him. Greg begs his mom to let Rodrick play tonight because his band kicked him out. His mom says that she is going to stick to her punishment no matter what. Greg then says that if she lets Rodrick play, then he will assist Rowley with his magic tricks, his mom then says okay. Greg and Rowley appear on stage wearing ridiculous outfits. The boys perform there show and it turns out better than they expected. Backstage, Holly Hills comes to Greg while all the other girls are getting Rowley's autograph, and says she loved the show. Holly Hills and Greg become friends. Greg then sees Rodrick getting the okay from his mom to play in the band. Rodrick then looks at Greg, knowing what he did, and nods his head. Rodrick and his band perform, but the crowd was pretty quiet, up until everyone saw Greg's mom dancing, where they are starting cheering and going near the stage. Rodrick and his band think that the cheering is for them, which makes them happy. While they are playing, Rodrick then tells Bill that after this performance, Bill is out of the band. Greg asks his dad if they should tell Rodrick that the cheering was really for his mom, but his dad tells him to keep it a secret since Rodrick is happy, and his mom is happy.

The film ends with Rodrick driving Greg to school. Rodrick tells Greg that it was cool of him to let him play last night. The boys forgive each other, then Rodrick gives Greg the tape back. As Greg arrives at school, Rodrick playfully then calls Greg "doofus", they both smile at each other then Greg says "later ButtBrain" and the two boys create a new friendship by realizing it's fun to have a brother.

During the credits Greg and Rowley post the video of Susan dancing on YouTube which becomes an instant hit. The video leads to Rodrick yelling, "You're dead!".

Cast

• Zachary Gordon as Greg Heffley
• Devon Bostick as Rodrick Heffley
• Rachael Harris as Susan Heffley
• Robert Capron as Rowley Jefferson
• Steve Zahn as Frank Heffley
• Connor and Owen Fielding as Manny Heffley
• Karan Brar as Chirag Gupta
• Laine MacNeil as Patty Farrell
• Grayson Russell as Fregley
• Peyton R. List as Holly Hills
• Andrew McNee as Coach Malone
• Fran Kranz as Bill Walter

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. Filming began in Vancouver, British Columbia and New Westminster, British Columbia from August to October 2010. Director Thor Freudenthal was replaced by Flushed Away and Astro Boy director David Bowers

Promotion

The film's trailer was shown with Gulliver's Travels on December 25, 2010. It was later released online on January 3, 2011. A poster for the film was released thereafter 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 movie in Singapore, the movie will be aired there eight days before the US release.The TV trailer was released on March 2011 on The Hub.

Sequel

In an interview, Bostick said that Diary of a Wimpy Kid 3 could be in the works and is "90% sure it will happen" depending on the success of Rodrick Rules.

Reception

The film has received mixed to positive reviews. It currently 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." 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."

Box Office

The film made $7,300,000 on its opening day, ranking #2 behind Sucker Punch but managed to be #1 on its weekend with an estimated $24,400,000 already breaking even with its budget within the first weekend .

External links

• Official website
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2: Rodrick Rules at IMDb
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2: Rodrick Rules at AllMovie