Middle schools sucks, frankly.
If it didn’t teachers today would not have meetings, weekly, if not hourly, about ways of avoiding bullying and how to build self-esteem whilst the government sends messages that you are stupid and cannot be trusted---I mean, we have so many repetitive meetings, it is really impressive that many of these issues that one experiences only in middle school should been solved probably in the fifties. But these issues are STILL happening. It’s part of human development. Anyone who was in middle school knows it has nothing to do with adults. It has everything to do with being a pre-teen. The hormones, the inability to grasp any kind of reality and this nagging feeling that you’re not going anywhere---quite soon. That’s the focus of the kids, not the adults. And any movie that reviews the eons that are middle school years, that should be their focus.
So teachers, including myself have frequent meetings, all trying to figure this ‘middle school’ thing out.
And the kids are still all weird.
I loved middle school. In fact, in my years of growing up, middle school ranked right up there with college. Yes, it did. I had just moved to Colorado and my thorn, my older brother, stayed in New York. It changed my world. No one judged me. I was able to be myself for probably the first time in ages.
So I loved middle school.
I didn’t realize I did until I started teaching junior high back in the year 2000.
The reason I elaborate on this is due to our most recent viewing of Fox’s Diary of Wimpy Kid. We hit it up as a date night movie this past Friday night and it was actually pretty dang good!
I know, I know, some kind of date night, right? You have to understand, dear readers, my husband---we met over Disney movies. We still laugh at farts and giggle at rampant stupidity.
Yes, middle school seems to be his favorite too!
JK Rowling is a godsend on several levels, really. With her writing dang good young adult fiction, we have hundreds of other authors finding the time to put pen to paper and capturing stuff that is quite excellent—all for young people. Diary is an example of this. Yeah, there have been great authors before, but now, kids are finishing their Harry Potter and heading back to the local bookseller and trying to find something else just as interesting. Diary is an example of that. It started as a cartoon on the website ‘Funbrain.com’ and expanded and expanded. It detailed the trails and pitfalls that we have all blocked from our collective pasts when it comes to remembering sixth, seventh and eighth grade. Filled with stick figures to emphasize the humorous text, this book is a quick read that is full of the stuff that makes my first sentence true.
It sucks because, well, you’re becoming a person, you’re not one yet. Greg Heffely typifies the social experimentation that sixth, seventh and eighth graders suffer through. Maybe you should try out for the play; maybe you should take up wrestling. Greg is mortified by his best friend, Rowley, who technically does nothing wrong but be himself. He is browbeaten by his older brother, Brodrick. He doesn’t know what he wants. The book captures stuff I see in my job daily.
And that is why I liked this movie. Unlike JK Rowling, the villains here are not teachers who wield magics that are, quite literally, evil incarnate and can kill you. His parents aren’t not dimwits who seek to embarrass him either. Instead, all the normal stuff a preteen could fear are there—the bullies, the indecision, and the wicked older brother.
And it captures it quite well. Sure, it is exaggerated to some extent, but it truly takes the time to get it right.
I also should mention something about the lead, someone named Zachary Gordon. I’ve worked with teen actors my whole life. They want the fame and the recognition, but having to work for it? Kids only emote when no one is looking. This kid actually is engaging and I bought it. Kid actors tend to rely on the director to tell them the details, but Mr. Gordon pulls it off—a teen we like even when he is unlikable.
So here’s a movie to rent if you have a middle schooler. However, I’m not stupid, it’s not for you probably otherwise. I’d recommend it if you survived this review and maybe nodded once or twice. But beyond that? Nada. That’s why I’ll say it’s really good, but not excellent.
After all, middle school sucks, frankly.
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