, a small 11-year-old who constantly fights with his teenage brother Rodrick and younger brother Manny, is apprehensive about beginning middle school. On his first day, he quickly discovers the ups and downs, such as the missing stall doors in the boys' bathroom and the difficulties of obtaining a seat during lunch. During P.E. class, he and his best friend Rowley Jefferson escape from a game of Gladiator and learn from their friend, Chirag Gupta, about a moldy piece of cheese on the basketball court that makes anyone who touches it an outcast, known as the Cheese Touch, and that the only way to get rid of it is to pass it on to someone else. They also meet Angie, a seventh-grader who isolates herself from the other students to "survive". Greg states his intention of becoming the most popular student in school. The next day, Greg signs up for wrestling but suffers back-to-back humiliating losses against Fregley, a weird outcast, and Patty Farrell, Greg's arch-enemy from elementary school. On Halloween, while out with Rowley trick or treating, teenagers drive by in a pickup truck and spray a fire extinguisher at them. When Greg threatens to call the cops, the teenagers chase them to his Grandma's house, but Greg and Rowley escape the teenagers after Greg accidentally damages the truck with a weed whacker. The boys join the Safety Patrol to become popular, and they try out for a contest that offers a student a chance to become the new cartoonist for the school paper. After Greg accidentally breaks Rowley's arm during a game the boys played, Rowley becomes extremely popular and wins the cartoonist contest, making Greg jealous of him. During a Safety Patrol assignment, Greg substitutes for Rowley and is supposed to walk kindergartners down a neighborhood street. Halfway through the walk, he panics when he encounters a truck identical to the teenagers' from Halloween, and hides the kids in a construction zone, but is spotted by a neighbor who mistakes him for Rowley, so he ditches the kindergarteners and runs. To his bewilderment, Rowley is suspended from the Patrol, but Greg eventually confesses to Rowley that he was the one who was responsible. Upset and feeling betrayed that Greg didn't own up to his actions, combined with the other times Greg has mistreated him, Rowley accuses Greg of having never been a good friend to him and ends their friendship. Greg is eventually withdrawn from the Safety Patrol while Rowley is reinstated as captain and makes friends with his classmate Collin, who replaces Greg as his new best friend. Greg decides to pursue popularity without Rowley by joining the school's production of The Wizard of Oz. At tryouts, Greg's soprano voice earns him the role of Dorothy; however, Patty threatens the teacher into casting her instead. Greg signs up as a tree, hoping to throw apples on Patty during the play, but during rehearsal, the trees are told they won't throw apples but sing a song instead, much to Greg's dismay. At the performance, Greg refuses to sing as Rodrick is videotaping the performance, and begins throwing apples after Patty throws a huge fit at what Greg has done, ending the play in chaos. Later, Greg and his mother attend a mother-son dance at school despite his reluctance. At Susan's encouragement, Greg attempts to reconcile with Rowley but is rejected. Depressed, he can only watch as Rowley and his mother perform a dance routine to "Intergalactic" by the Beastie Boys, winning over the crowd and shocking Greg. One day after school, Rowley and Greg loudly confront each other, prompting Patty and the other kids to force Greg and Rowley to fight; however, neither of them is good at fighting. The teenagers from Halloween arrive at the scene and catch the boys, forcing Rowley to eat part of the Cheese. The school's gym teacher Coach Malone comes out just before Greg gets forced to eat the rest and the teenagers run off. When the other kids notice that the Cheese has been eaten, Greg takes the blame for Rowley by saying he ate it. This mends their friendship as Greg invites Rowley to play at his house. At the end of the school year, Greg and Rowley make the yearbook Class Favorites page as "Cutest Friends”.
Chloë Grace Moretz as Angie Steadman, a seventh-grader at Greg's school who is a reporter for the school paper.
Karan Brar as Chirag Gupta, a friend of Greg's.
Grayson Russell as Fregley, a weird classmate of Greg's.
Laine MacNeil as Patty Farrell, Greg's arch-enemy.
Alex Ferris as Collin Lee, Rowley's substitute best friend during his fight with Greg.
Andrew McNee as Coach Malone, Greg's gym teacher.
Connor and Owen Fielding as Manny Heffley, Greg's little brother.
Belita Moreno as Mrs. Norton, Greg's acting teacher.
Alf Humphreys as Mr. Jefferson, Rowley's father who dislikes Greg.
Kaye Capron as Mrs. Jefferson, Rowley's mother.
Production
The filming of Diary of a Wimpy Kid was in Vancouver and wrapped up on October 16, 2009. Lucas Cruikshank, best known for creating the web series Fred, had auditioned for the role as Greg Heffley. Even though he was 17 at the time, the crew members were impressed with his performance, but he was "too old for the role". The role was given to Zachary Gordon, who was 5 years younger than Cruikshank. Cruikshank mentioned this on his official YouTube channel called Lucas, in a video titled "Movie Roles I Didn't Get". The official trailer for Diary of a Wimpy Kid was released virally on January 21, 2010 and was shown in theaters with Tooth Fairy. A poster for the film was released shortly after. Another trailer was shown with . The official Facebook account for Diary of a Wimpy Kid had uploaded three clips from the film, as of March 1, 2010. In the United Kingdom and Ireland the film was released in cinemas on August 25, 2010.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was released on CD by La La Land Records with the score composed by Theodore Shapiro, containing 34 tracks.
Distribution
Tie-in book
A tie-in book, written by Kinney, called The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary, was published on March 16, 2010, by Amulet Books. It includes film stills, storyboards, preliminary concept drawings and also behind-the-scenes information to humorously chronicle the making of the film. It also includes some new illustrations.
Home media
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on August 3, 2010. The Blu-ray version features six pages from Rowley's diary, Diary of an Awesome, Friendly Kid. The film was released on the streaming service Disney+ on November 12, 2019; its launch date.
Reception
Critical response
site Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 53%, based on 106 reviews with an average rating of 5.5/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "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." It also holds a rating of 56/100 at Metacritic, based on 26 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Roger Ebert gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, writing "It's nimble, bright and funny. It doesn't dumb down. It doesn't patronize. It knows something about human nature." Glenn Whipp of the Associated Press was less positive, saying, "In transferring the clean, precise humor of Kinney's illustrations and prose to the big-screen, the material loses just a bit of its charm." At the Movies host David Stratton gave the film one star while co-host Margaret Pomeranz gave it half a star. Stratton called the film "tiresome" and said there was "nothing remotely interesting in Thor Freudenthal's direction or the screenplay." Pomeranz disliked the character of Greg Heffley, saying "I really thought he was unpleasant. I did not want to spend time with him. I could not wait for the end of this film." OregonLive.com gave the movie a C+ grade, criticizing it for being "too often dull, unappealing and clumsy, hobbled by unnecessary changes and inventions that add no charm, energy or, truly, point."
Box office
Despite a lack of distinctive marketing, Diary of a Wimpy Kid drew a decent crowd, opening to $22.1 million on approximately 3,400 screens at 3,077 sites, in second place at the weekend box office behind Alice in Wonderland but beating out the heavily hyped The Bounty Hunter.It was the biggest start ever for a non-animated, non-fantasy children's book adaptation. Diary of a Wimpy Kid grossed more in its first three days than other film adaptions to children's novels like How to Eat Fried Worms and Hoot grossed in their entire runs. The film grossed $64,003,625 in North America and $11,696,873 in other territories for a worldwide total of $75,700,498.
Accolades
Sequels
Three sequels were released in 2011, 2012 and 2017 respectively. ' was released on March 25, 2011. It was based on the second book in the series, '. Zachary Gordon reprised his role in the film. ' was released on August 3, 2012, and is based on ' and ', including scenes from both books. An animated short film,, was released along with the DVD of. A film based on ' was released in May 2017 featuring a new cast starring Jason Drucker, Alicia Silverstone, and Tom Everett Scott.
