Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2010

Critics score:
53 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: The casting's pretty fair, and if they had better material, Steve Zahn and Rachael Harris would have been real assets. But the story lurches from indignity to ill-starred wrestling match to gross-out gag, without any momentum or surprise. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Diary of a Wimpy Kid is an adequate adaptation of Kinney's novel, but no replacement for the real thing. Read more

Mary F. Pols, MSN Movies: What the movie gets right, sometimes in agonizing detail, are the humiliations and horrors of school... Read more

Tom Keogh, Seattle Times: There's a monotony to Gordon's performance that is not really his fault, though he's surrounded by an able cast of young performers who keep the movie's energy up. Read more

Tasha Robinson, AV Club: For all its ridiculousness, its enthusiastic comic excess, and its fart/booger/gross-out jokes, Diary Of A Wimpy Kid's heart is firmly in the right place. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a movie that needs to go back to the drawing board -- literally. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The movie is remarkably attuned to that awful period when you're not just known but sometimes doomed by the company you keep. Read more

Nancy Churnin, Dallas Morning News: What sets this kid comedy apart is how well it resists the temptation to clobber the bullies and crown the underdog. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: The problem with Diary of a Wimpy Kid is the wimpy kid is a jerk. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: A jaunty and forthright production with a lively look reflecting the book's illustrated pages [that] does a great job of being in two places at once: In the head and gangly bodies of kids, and in the hearts of those of us who have survived grades 6-8. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Why spend money to go see this? When you could just stay home and watch reruns of Ned's Declassified for free? Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: An above-average and sometimes surprising kid movie based on the first of a popular series of cartoon books by Jeff Kinney. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: Diary of a Wimpy Kid, based on the popular illustrated tween books by Jeff Kinney, deserves a B- for effort and a C for execution. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: It's nimble, bright and funny. It doesn't dumb down. It doesn't patronize. It knows something about human nature. It isn't as good as A Christmas Story, as few movies are, but it deserves a place in the same sentence. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: The writing is funny during individual moments, but the cumulative result is a bit depressing, with a surprising amount of negativity. If anything, the pervasive doomed feeling of junior high is too accurate. Who wants to pay money to relive that? Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: No kiddie movie would be complete without spazzy supporting characters, booger jokes, yucky food and toilet humor; Diary delivers them in abundance without straying too far from Disney Channel wholesomeness. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: This group project produces no voice of its own, just faintly entertaining echoes of better movies and television shows. Read more

Stephen Cole, Globe and Mail: Too soon though -- maybe 30 minutes in -- audience laughs turn to chuckles, fading to worn smiles. Read more

Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: The friendship message that comes wrapped in the world of Wimpy Kid gives the movie its centre and its heart, along with a reminder that there is no greater act of devotion than a kid who will submit himself to the cheese touch for a pal. Read more

Derek Adams, Time Out: Read more

Lisa Rosman, Time Out: Largely avoids the gimmicky saccharine aftertaste that's typical of the genre. Anyone older than the story's resident Job, however, may not find much to write home about. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: There's something silly-sweet about this movie. It avoids talking down to kids or being didactic, while still projecting an overall wholesomeness. Read more

Lael Loewenstein, Variety: Diary of a Wimpy Kid is an amusing romp through the awkward years of middle school. Read more

Ella Taylor, Village Voice: Diary of a Wimpy Kid is sweet and funny at either end, but in between, it sags with endless repetition of gross bodily functions and Greg's torment at the hands of larger, angrier, or more popular kids -- in that order. Read more

Dan Kois, Washington Post: Kids who realize they're fully ordinary -- that is, pretty much all of them -- will be pleased to see a world they recognize on the big screen. Read more