#21 in the Blast for the Past Series

Plot Summary – Greg Heffley is headed for big things, but first he has to survive the scariest, most humiliating experience of any kid’s life – middle school! That won’t be easy, considering he’s surrounded by hairy-freckled morons, wedgie-loving bullies and a moldy slice of cheese with nuclear cooties!

This review contains spoilers.

★★★★★ 

Rewatched 29 Jan, 2021

There’s something special about this series. It’s obviously not a cinematic masterpiece in any technical sense but something about this film makes it one of the most entertaining films I’ve ever watched. This is a character examination that goes much deeper than any of the books ever did and that’s something I credit the films for. The characters are so three dimensional but in the books they never grow. Each film in the trilogy explores Greg’s relationship with one character as the emotional crux of the film and the character in this one is Rowley. He is the foil to Greg’s egotism, selfishness, and superficiality. He loves Joshie (obviously their take on JB), he wears whacky clothes, he’s so comfortable in his own skin, he doesn’t care about what other people think about him. The film doesn’t make you realize that Greg is a terrible person immediately. It shows subtly how he acts worse and worse on a daily basis which is what makes the realization by Rowley that he’s a bad friend so effective. When I was 6 and I watched that scene for the first time, I burst into tears and I nearly did today as well. “You’re a bad friend, Greg” might be one of the most painful dialogues said by a character in cinematic history. The ending when Greg takes the blame for eating the cheese and tries to make an appeal to the society that has made him the way he is, the very society he’s tried so hard to appeal to, we see that they don’t care because trying to inspire change in society is so futile. In this moment of growth, we see Greg turn his back on this society that’s just made him feel smaller than he already is and embrace the most important thing in his life, his friendship with Rowley. In addition to being a masterpiece in its own right, it also sets up so many things that payoff later in the trilogy like his relationship with Rodrick, Susan, Frank and cult favourite Chirag Gupta. I could go on and on about how perfect this film is but it just needs to be experienced to be appreciated. I don’t know how anyone could unironically give this 2 stars.