Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (film)
Encyclopedia
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (known in the United Kingdom and Australia as Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2: Rodrick Rules) is a 2011 comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...

 based on Jeff Kinney's
Jeff Kinney (writer)
Jeffrey "Jeff" Kinney is an American game designer, cartoonist, producer, and author of children's books including the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series. He is also attributed to be the creator of the children-oriented website Poptropica...

 book of the same name
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules is a realistic fiction novel by Jeff Kinney. It is the second book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series released on February 1, 2008, and a film of the same name released March 25, 2011...

. The film stars Zachary Gordon
Zachary Gordon
Zachary Adam Gordon is an American film and television actor, best known for playing Greg Heffley in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid films which are based on Jeff Kinney's #1 New York Times best seller Diary of a Wimpy Kid....

 and Devon Bostick
Devon Bostick
Devon Bostick is a Canadian actor, best known for playing the lead role in the Atom Egoyan-directed film Adoration and Rodrick Heffley in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies.- Life and career :Bostick was born in Toronto, Ontario...

. Robert Capron
Robert Capron
Robert Capron is American child actor who is best known for starring as Rowley Jefferson, Greg Heffley's best friend in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies. He started off with a role in Bride Wars and later had small parts in Hachiko: A Dog's Story and the Disney film The Sorcerer's Apprentice...

, Rachael Harris
Rachael Harris
Rachael Elaine Harris is an American actress and comedian.-Early life:Harris was born in Worthington, Ohio. She graduated from Worthington High School...

, Steve Zahn
Steve Zahn
-Early life:Zahn was born in Marshall, Minnesota, the son of Zelda, who worked for the YMCA, and Carleton E. Zahn, a retired Missouri Synod Lutheran pastor. Zahn spent part of his childhood in Mankato, Minnesota, attending Kennedy Elementary School...

, and Peyton List also have prominent roles. It is the sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...

 to 2010's Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Diary of a Wimpy Kid (film)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a 2010 American comedy film directed by Thor Freudenthal and based on Jeff Kinney's book of the same name. The film was released on March 19, 2010. It was released on DVD, iTunes, and Blu-ray on August 3, 2010.-Plot:...

.

Plot

When Greg (Zachary Gordon
Zachary Gordon
Zachary Adam Gordon is an American film and television actor, best known for playing Greg Heffley in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid films which are based on Jeff Kinney's #1 New York Times best seller Diary of a Wimpy Kid....

) and his family attend a party at a roller rink
Roller rink
A roller rink is a hard surface used for roller skating or inline skating. This includes roller hockey, speed skating, and recreational skating...

, he reunites with his best friend Rowley (Robert Capron
Robert Capron
Robert Capron is American child actor who is best known for starring as Rowley Jefferson, Greg Heffley's best friend in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies. He started off with a role in Bride Wars and later had small parts in Hachiko: A Dog's Story and the Disney film The Sorcerer's Apprentice...

) and classmates Fregley (Grayson Russell
Grayson Russell
Grayson Russell is an American film and television child actor best known for playing Texas Ranger Bobby, son of the title character in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and Fregley in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies....

) and Chirag (Karan Brar
Karan Brar
Karan Brar , is an American actor, best known for his role as Chirag Gupta in the Wimpy Kid feature film franchise, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, as well as for his co-starring role as "Ravi Ross" on the Disney Channel comedy series, Jessie.-Early life:Karan Brar was...

). 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
Devon Bostick
Devon Bostick is a Canadian actor, best known for playing the lead role in the Atom Egoyan-directed film Adoration and Rodrick Heffley in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies.- Life and career :Bostick was born in Toronto, Ontario...

) intervenes, ending with their mother (Rachael Harris
Rachael Harris
Rachael Elaine Harris is an American actress and comedian.-Early life:Harris was born in Worthington, Ohio. She graduated from Worthington High School...

) and father (Steve Zahn
Steve Zahn
-Early life:Zahn was born in Marshall, Minnesota, the son of Zelda, who worked for the YMCA, and Carleton E. Zahn, a retired Missouri Synod Lutheran pastor. Zahn spent part of his childhood in Mankato, Minnesota, attending Kennedy Elementary School...

) 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
Voyeurism
In clinical psychology, voyeurism is the sexual interest in or practice of spying on people engaged in intimate behaviors, such as undressing, sexual activity, or other activity usually considered to be of a private nature....

". 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
Stage fright
Stage fright or performance anxiety is the anxiety, fear, or persistent phobia which may be aroused in an individual by the requirement to perform in front of an audience, whether actually or potentially . In the context of public speaking, this fear is termed glossophobia, one of the most common...

. 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. 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 is fun to have a brother. Greg puts the video of the talent contest on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

 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
    Zachary Gordon
    Zachary Adam Gordon is an American film and television actor, best known for playing Greg Heffley in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid films which are based on Jeff Kinney's #1 New York Times best seller Diary of a Wimpy Kid....

     as Greg Heffley
  • Devon Bostick
    Devon Bostick
    Devon Bostick is a Canadian actor, best known for playing the lead role in the Atom Egoyan-directed film Adoration and Rodrick Heffley in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies.- Life and career :Bostick was born in Toronto, Ontario...

     as Rodrick Heffley
  • Robert Capron
    Robert Capron
    Robert Capron is American child actor who is best known for starring as Rowley Jefferson, Greg Heffley's best friend in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies. He started off with a role in Bride Wars and later had small parts in Hachiko: A Dog's Story and the Disney film The Sorcerer's Apprentice...

     as Rowley Jefferson
  • Rachael Harris
    Rachael Harris
    Rachael Elaine Harris is an American actress and comedian.-Early life:Harris was born in Worthington, Ohio. She graduated from Worthington High School...

     as Susan Heffley
  • Steve Zahn
    Steve Zahn
    -Early life:Zahn was born in Marshall, Minnesota, the son of Zelda, who worked for the YMCA, and Carleton E. Zahn, a retired Missouri Synod Lutheran pastor. Zahn spent part of his childhood in Mankato, Minnesota, attending Kennedy Elementary School...

     as Frank Heffley
  • Peyton List as Holly Hills
  • Karan Brar
    Karan Brar
    Karan Brar , is an American actor, best known for his role as Chirag Gupta in the Wimpy Kid feature film franchise, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, as well as for his co-starring role as "Ravi Ross" on the Disney Channel comedy series, Jessie.-Early life:Karan Brar was...

     as Chirag Gupta
  • Grayson Russell
    Grayson Russell
    Grayson Russell is an American film and television child actor best known for playing Texas Ranger Bobby, son of the title character in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and Fregley in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies....

     as Fregley
  • Laine MacNeil as Patty Farrell
  • Terence Kelly as Grandpa
  • Fran Kranz
    Fran Kranz
    Francis Elliott Kranz is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Topher Brink in Joss Whedon's science fiction drama television series Dollhouse.-Early life:...

     as Bill Walter
  • Andrew McNee
    Andrew McNee
    Andrew McNee is a Canadian actor, possibly best known for starring as Coach Malone in the movie Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Hoss in Scary Movie 4.-Filmography:*Good Morning *The Delicate Art of Parking...

     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
    Jeff Kinney (writer)
    Jeffrey "Jeff" Kinney is an American game designer, cartoonist, producer, and author of children's books including the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series. He is also attributed to be the creator of the children-oriented website Poptropica...

     (The real-life author of the series
    Diary of a Wimpy Kid (series)
    Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a series of fiction books written by American author and cartoonist Jeff Kinney. The books are the journals of the main character, whose name is Greg Heffley. Befitting a child's diary, they are filled with hand written notes and simple drawings of his daily adventures...

    ) as Mr. Hills

Production

Talks of a sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...

 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 took place in Vancouver, British Columbia and New Westminster, British Columbia
New Westminster, British Columbia
New Westminster is an historically important city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and is a member municipality of the Greater Vancouver Regional District. It was founded as the capital of the Colony of British Columbia ....

 from August 23 to October 27, 2010. The mall scene was filmed at Park Royal Mall in West Vancouver. Director Thor Freudenthal
Thor Freudenthal
Thor Freudenthal is a German director and screenwriter who generally works in film.Freudenthal was born and raised in West Berlin, West Germany. He attended the Berlin Academy of Arts, and later moved to Southern California as an exchange student at CalArts. He started out as an animation director...

 was replaced by director David Bowers
David Bowers (director)
David Bowers is an animator and film director originally from Stockport, Greater Manchester in the UK.- Early life :Bowers studied animation at West Surrey College of Art and Design in Farnham, but left during the first year to work on Who Framed Roger Rabbit as an inbetweener under director...

 (Flushed Away
Flushed Away
Flushed Away is a 2006 computer animated British film directed by David Bowers and Sam Fell. It is a partnership between Aardman Animations of Wallace and Gromit fame, and DreamWorks Animation, and is Aardman's first completely computer-animated feature as opposed to the usual stop-motion.The film...

and Astro Boy
Astro Boy (film)
Astro Boy, also called in Japan, is a 2009 computer-animated film loosely based on the long-running Japanese series of the same name by Osamu Tezuka. It was produced by Imagi Animation Studios, the animation production company of TMNT. The studio announced the project in September 2006...

).

Promotion

The film's trailer was shown with Gulliver's Travels
Gulliver's Travels (2010 film)
Gulliver's Travels is a 2010 fantasy comedy film directed by Rob Letterman and very loosely based on Part One of the 18th-century novel of the same name by Jonathan Swift, though the film takes place in modern day...

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
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

 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. A TV spot of the movie was released in March 2011.

Box office

The film made $7,300,000 on its opening day, ranking #2 behind Sucker Punch
Sucker Punch (film)
Sucker Punch is a 2011 action-fantasy thriller film, directed by Zack Snyder and co-written by him and Steve Shibuya. It is Snyder's first film based on an original script. The film stars Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung, and Oscar Isaac...

. The film managed to rank #1 in the weekend box office. In the UK, It was #3 in the UK weekend box office behind Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is a 2011 adventure fantasy film and the fourth installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean series...

and The Hangover Part II.

Reception

The film has received mixed reviews; it currently holds a 47% 'Rotten' rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

, out of 93 reviews, with an average rating of 5.3/10.; also holds a "53" on Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

, triggering "Mixed or average reviews."

Robert Abele of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....

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
Richard Roeper
Richard E. Roeper is an American columnist and film critic for The Chicago Sun-Times and now a co-host on The Roe Conn Show on WLS-AM...

 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
Boxoffice (magazine)
Boxoffice is a film industry magazine dedicated to the movie theatre business published by Boxoffice Media LP. It started in 1920 as The Reel Journal, taking its current name in 1931 and still publishes today, with an intended audience of theatre owners and film professionals.Boxoffice is the...

 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
IParty with Victorious
"iParty with Victorious" is a 2011 three-part crossover episode of iCarly with Victorious. Although it is a crossover, the episode only counts as an iCarly episode. The episode aired on June 11, 2011, at 8/7c...

on Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...

at 8:00 PM on June 11, 2011.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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