12-year-old Greg Heffley (Zachary Gordon) is anxious to start middle school, confident he will easily become the school's most popular kid. However, Greg worries about how his "uncool" best friend, Rowley Jefferson (Robert Capron), will fit in. While Rowley is a good friend who helps Greg escape his terrorizing older brother, Rodrick (Devon Bostick), Greg worries that Rowley's dorky clothes and personality will embarrass both of them.
On their first day, Greg and Rowley meet Angie (Chloë Moretz), a seventh grader who works for the school’s paper. Throughout the school year, Angie gives Greg and Rowley information about the workings of middle school, which she believes was created to store kids while they make the awkward transition between children to teenagers. Classmate Chirag Gupta (Karan Brar) tells Greg and Rowley the story behind the moldy slice of swiss cheese laying on the blacktop; upon touching the cheese, a kid named Darren Walsh (Harrison Houde) initiated the Cheese Touch; anyone who touches the cheese becomes an outcast until they pass on the cheese touch by touching someone else. The last Cheese Touch was taken away by a German exchange student named Detorn Müller.
Greg is determined to be voted a "class favorite" and listed in the yearbook, but each of his attempts to do so backfire. His popularity quickly drops as he loses to Patty Farrell (Laine MacNeil), Greg’s arch-enemy, in wrestling (taught by Coach Malone (Andrew McNee); angers teenagers by threatening to call the cops on them after they spray him and Rowley with a fire extignuisher, and then damages their Ford F150 with a weed whacker; joins the geeky Safety Patrol alongside Rowley; and breaks Rowley's arm during winter time. In school, everyone notices Rowley's broken arm and Rowley becomes very popular, much to Greg’s dismay. Rowley's popularity increases when he beats Greg to become the school paper's cartoonist, despite Greg's dismissal of his ideas.
Greg and Rowley’s friendship falls apart after Greg allows Rowley to unwittingly take the blame for a mistake Greg made during Safety Patrol. After Greg tells Rowley the truth and tries to make light of the situation, Rowley berates him for being a bad friend who cares about nothing but himself. Rowley then leaves him and befriends a kid named Collin Lee (Alex Ferris). Greg tries to move on by having a sleep over with Fregley (Grayson Russell), the weirdest and 201st most popular (past the bottom) kid in school, but Fregley's sugar-induced hyperactivity is too much for him to take. He then tries to pursue popularity without Rowley by auditioning for the school play of The Wizard of Oz, but ruins the performance by starting a fight with Patty in the middle of the performance.
At the school mother-son dance, Greg's mother (Rachael Harris) suggests Greg ask Rowley to go out for ice cream with them. However, Rowley tells Greg that he's already going out for ice cream with Collin. Later, Greg is excited when Rowley comes up to him in school, but is disappointed when he learns Rowley only wants a game back. Greg refuses to return the game, causing them to get into a argument. Kids gather around them, wanting them to fight, but are quickly dispelled when the teenagers Greg and Rowley had angered on Halloween drive up, looking for revenge. The teenagers force Rowley to eat the Cheese. They are about to force Greg to eat the remainder when Coach Malone, arrives and chases the teenagers away.
The kids return and find the partially eaten Cheese. Patty begins to accuse Rowley, but Greg steps in and takes the blame. He picks up the Cheese and makes a profound speech about the ridiculousness of the Cheese and other middle school institutions, but it backfires as everyone runs away from Greg, who now has the Cheese Touch. Greg and Rowley make up, and Angie approaches them to compliment Greg for his bravery. Greg and Rowley make it into the class favorites list as "cutest friends", Greg gives Patty the Cheese Touch without her knowing, and the film ends with Greg, Rowley, and Angie laughing and Greg narrating that he still has the summer and next year ahead of him.
No comments:
Post a Comment