This move is about two brothers, Greg and Roderick, learning to get along with one another and trying to be friends. The main character of the movie is Greg Heffley, a seventh grade boy who is very small in size and his goal is to be popular and be friends with his brother throughout much of the movie in doing so he gets embarrassed by family and on his own quite often.
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Greg starts out the movie at an ice rink where he sees the new girl Holly and instantly falls for her and wants to get closer to her because he likes her and because he thinks it would also make him popular. His first attempt is thwarted by his brother Roderick as Greg attempts to approach Holly to ask her to dance as a slow song is playing, Roderick changes the song to a heavy rock song. This prevents Greg from getting to talk to Holly and also leads to chaos in the skating rink which causes Greg's mother to worry and embarrass him for the first time in the movie by getting on the microphone and having Greg's father carry him out of the skating rink.
Greg's Mom devises a scheme to get her boys Greg and Roderick to get along which she calls Mom Bucks which she gives them both for hours they spend together without fighting, at first Roderick only uses this a ploy to get money in his pocket but later in the movie that changes.
More embarrassment for Greg comes when his family all head to church and his little brother Manny leaves a candy bar on the seat where Greg sits and when Greg gets up and realizes it, they are already at church. So Greg is forced to wear a lady like sweater around his pants so no one sees the brown stain the candy bar made on his pants. As he is walking behind Greg, Roderick steps on sweater peeling it away from Greg's pants and exposing the brown stain and Greg is thoroughly embarrassed in church in front of everyone.
Shortly after this Greg and Roderick's parents leave them home from a fun family vacation they were supposed to go, so they can work things out and get along better. Roderick throws a giant party and the house gets trashed, in the morning following the party Roderick gets a call from their parents saying they would be home in a couple of hours because Manny, their little brother, was sick.
Roderick and Greg work together for once and clean the house and get it back into shape before their parents gets home and agree to keep the secret. When Greg and Roderick's mom figures it out she confronts Roderick who denies it then goes to confront Greg who admits everything but begs his mom not to ruin the peace that has been going on between him and his brother Roderick to which she agrees.
Roderick and Greg start spending lots of time together, pull pranks on people, eats lots of junk food and genuinely enjoy spending time together. Then Roderick and Greg's dad finds a video camera that has pictures of the party on it and they are both busted. Greg took the photos and forgot to delete them so he got himself and Roderick in trouble. Roderick was furious because part of his punishment was he could not perform at the talent show with this band like he had been practicing and waiting for and he blamed it all on Greg.
Roderick and Greg are left to stay with their Grandpa at his retirement community with was boring and a pretty bad punishment for them. Roderick takes Greg's diary and runs off to show it to Holly to embarrass Greg. Greg not thinking runs around in his underwear chasing Roderick which Roderick eventually realizes and gets on tape to use at a later time to embarrass Greg.
The talent show comes around and their parents make Greg and Roderick watch and support the people in the talent show. Roderick finds out his band is going to perform without him and had replaced him with a new drummer. Upon seeing this Greg, begs his Mom to let Roderick play in the talent show with his band, Greg even agrees to be the magician assistant for his friend Rowley, which Greg feels will embarrass him. Greg's willingness to embarrass himself so his brother can do something he cares about softens is mom up and she lets Roderick play with his band.
Following this Greg and Roderick are on good terms again and Roderick even gives Greg the tape of Greg running around in his underwear as a peace offering. The performance of Roderick's band was filmed by their Dad and Greg uploaded it to Youtube. The video shows his Mom dances on the side and the crowd going crazy for her instead of for Roderick's band like Roderick thought while they were performing. Roderick sees this and threatens to kill Greg metaphorically of course and so starts the battle between brothers again.
Best part of story, including ending:
What I specifically liked about this movie was the way it showed and portrayed the family dynamic in a truthful light. Examples being getting blamed for things other siblings do, parents not being cool or not understanding their kids and the way that brothers fight but will always have each others back in the long run. This movie painted a true picture of what a family is like not the perfect or near perfect picture other movies try to portray to us.
One thing I really disliked in this movie even though is was very real and does happen in real life is the bullying and making Rowley eat the nasty cheese that had been stuck to the blacktop for years. I did not like particularly like that portion of the movie but I do acknowledge the bullying was necessary to story but it most likely did not have to be as gross or over the top as it was.
Best scene in story:
My favorite scene is the school talent school scene because of the sacrifice Greg makes for Roderick. Greg agrees to be Rowley's magician assistant in order to get his Mom to let Roderick play with his band in the talent show. Previously Greg had taken pictures of a party that Roderick threw and left them on the camera which their dad later found and get both of them in trouble. That was the reason why Roderick was unable to play in the talent show with his band in the first place. The way Greg is willing to make a fool of himself so that he can make up for getting his brother in trouble and get Roderick to be able to be allowed to play in the talent with his band is very noble. It also shows loyalty to family and puts Greg and Roderick back on good terms. It is my favorite scene because it displays loyalty, love and sacrifice for family and connects with me because it is similar to things I would do and have done for family.
Opinion about the main character:
The thing I liked most about Greg is no matter how much he and his brother Roderick fight he always has his back and always is looking for a way to make it up to him when he makes a mistake like accidentally leaving pictures of Roderick's party on the video camera. His love for his family and friends and his loyalty to them is what I like most about him.
One thing I disliked about the main character, Greg, was he always wanted to be cool and would always lament when things happened that he felt made him seem uncool. The fact that it took the whole movie to realize what really mattered and to just be himself made his view seem a little shallow.
