Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (2011 film)

Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2: Rodrick Rules is a movie based off of the books Rodrick Rules and The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney, and is a sequel to the original 2010 Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie. This sequel features a returning cast that includes Zachary Gordon, Robert Capron, Rachael Harris, Devon Bostick and Steve Zahn.

Main Cast

 * Zachary Gordon as Greg Heffley
 * Peyton List as Holly Hills
 * Devon Bostick as Rodrick Heffley
 * Robert Capron as Rowley Jefferson
 * Rachael Harris as Susan Heffley
 * Steve Zahn as Frank Heffley
 * Karan Brar as Chirag Gupta

Plot
The film starts with Greg Heffley (played by Zachary Gordon) and his family at a roller rink, where he reunites with his best friend Rowley Jefferson (Robert Capron) and classmates Fregley (Grayson Russell) and Chirag Gupta (Karan Brar). He meets Holly Hills (Peyton List), who immediately becomes his love interest.

Greg's older brother, Rodrick (Devon Bostick), tricks Greg into trying to skate with her and starts persuading violent teenagers to enter the rink. Their mother Susan Heffley (Rachael Harris) and father Frank Heffley (Steve Zahn) misunderstand and humiliate him by speaking to him on the speaker phone and carrying him off the rink.

Afterwards, Mom has noticed that the boys haven't been getting along so she devises "Mom Bucks" to pay them if they spend time together where they can trade in for one real dollar, but this unwittingly makes thing worse. Meanwhile, Greg and Rowley try to make a funny YouTube video by Rowley lip-syncing to "Tik Tok" by Kesha, unfortunately (despite Rowley at one point sitting on a tinfoil ball with spikes made by Manny) it proves to be awful, getting only 4 hits. After a talent show is advertised on TV, the brothers see this as a big opportunity – Rowley suggests that he and Greg perform magic tricks, but Greg rejects the idea whilst Rodrick sees this as his band's big break.

On Sunday, the Heffley family goes to church but Greg is reluctant to go inside, as a melted 3 Musketeers chocolate bar, intentionally placed on his seat by Rodrick, has stained his trousers. Greg's mothers give him her sweater to cover up the stain, but the cover-up backfires when Rodrick exposes Greg's pants. The boys ultimately end up in a scuffle on the floor and as punishment, they are to spend a whole weekend together to bond, while their parents leave on a trip to Rockin' Rapids. Against his parents' orders, Rodrick hosts a party at the house and locks Greg in the basement. Rowley comes to "save" Greg, but Rodrick locks him in the basement as well, until a call from their mother results in Rodrick letting the two out, in return for their silence on the matter.



The next day, the two get a call from their mom, informing them that Manny is sick and they are returning early from their trip. The house is trashed, and the boys only have an hour to clean it up and erase all evidence of the party before their parents arrive home. When they see that one of the partygoers wrote on the bathroom door in permanent marker, they replace the door with a different one. Afterwards, Greg realizes that the new door does not have a lock, while the old one did. When their mother notices this, she confronts both boys individually. Greg confesses, but in order to prevent Rodrick from getting angry at him, he says that the party was only a band rehearsal, and the two escape punishment. Rodrick thinks Greg denied everything, and the brothers become friends.

The boys go out for a night of fun, getting smoothies and pranking unsuspecting people. However, one prank goes too far and Coach Malone chases them into a mall. They escape by tricking him and return home laughing, only to find that their father has inadvertently come across photos of the party and discovers their mother knew about the party, to which he scolds her for not telling him and Rodrick scolds Greg for telling their mother and taking pictures during the party. As their father and their mother think about their punishments, Greg tries to apologize but Rodrick only says that they are no longer friends. Greg is grounded for two weeks with no video games, and Rodrick is grounded for a month and is not allowed to participate in the talent show. Rodrick begs them to give him a different punishment, but they refuse. Devastated by his punishment, Rodrick tells Greg he is so dead. Then Greg and Rodrick spend the weekend with their grandfather in his retirement home. Greg runs into Holly at the retirement home and bond other their mean older siblings and irritating little siblings. Greg writes his feelings in his diary believing running into Holly was a change of fortune, which Rodrick gets a hold of and reads out loud waking Greg up. Rodrick then threatens to tell Holly and runs towards the lobby to do so. Greg chases after Rodrick in his underwear and manages to snatch away the diary. He runs to the bathroom, rips out the pages of the diary, and flushes them down the toilet. He discovers he is in the ladies' bathroom, but manages to escape the mob of angry women who think he is a "peeping tom". However, he finds that Rodrick caught everything on tape via security camera and threatens to show it to everyone sooner or later.

At the talent show a few nights later, Rowley's performance is unable to take place, as his eight-year-old assistant Scotty gets stage fright. Greg's mom says Greg will do the show with Rowley, but Greg refuses, saying that he will look humiliated. When Rodrick goes to his band, Greg follows and watches Rodrick's band member, Bill Walter, kick him out of the band he created. Greg bargains with his mom to allow Rodrick to perform, if he will perform with Rowley, which his mom accepts. Rodrick thanks their mom, sees Greg, and nods at him for letting him play. The magic show is a hit with the audience and Holly meets Greg and Rowley backstage to tell him she loved their show. However, Patty Farrell says it was "pathetic" and got bird poop dumped on her. Rodrick and his band performed but the crowd is not impressed until they see Greg's mom dancing, and start to dance along. Greg is happy for finally having fixed the problems with his family.

Rodrick drives Greg to school, as the boys have now forgiven each other. Rodrick also gives him a tape containing that "embarrassing moment" at Leisure Towers. The boys then create a new friendship, realizing it is fun to have a brother. Later, Greg and Rowley put the video of the talent contest on YouTube and calls it "Lame Band with Crazy Mom Dancing" which becomes an instant hit. Rodrick shouts that Greg is "so dead" and the film closes.

Promotion
The film's trailer was shown with Gulliver's Travels on December 25, 2010. It was later released online, on the official Facebook page, on January 3, 2011.

Trivia

 * The live action film adaptation for the sequel to Rodrick Rules is named Dog Days instead of The Last Straw like the book series while combining both The Last Straw and Dog Days together.
 * When Greg finds out that Manny put a cookie in his video game, it appears that Greg owns an Xbox 360 Slim.
 * The scene where Greg get chocolate on his pants was in the book The Last Straw.
 * In a way Holly Hills is very similar to Angie from the original film. This indicates that Holly replaced Angie.
 * Unlike in the book, Holly Hills only appeared as one of the casts on Greg's planned skit for the Talent Show, The Boy Whose Family Thinks He's a DOG.
 * Holly Hills appeared as one of the main characters only in the third book.
 * It doesn't show in the movie when Greg become friends again with Chirag after the fight.
 * It is the first time in the films where the main characters first appeared as a drawing then transitioning into real people.
 * On June 21, 2011, the movie was released on DVD And Blu-Ray.
 * This movie was selected on Nickelodeon's Kids Choice Awards.
 * Patty is not wearing glasses in the movie.
 * In The Last Straw, the skating rink is Roll-a-Round, but in the movie it's Rocket Rollers.
 * Frank Heffley's Civil War battlefield makes a brief appearance in the movie

Differences Between the Book and Movie
A lot of differences were made between the book and the movie. As the book put in several random scenes, the movie ignored several elements of the novel and formed a conflict in which the party that Rodrick threw has a bigger role in the movie. Rodrick and Greg actually were put into test by Susan Heffley to form a bond together and become more friendly towards each other in the film.

Movie

 * Rowley sings Tik Tok by Kesha.
 * Greg and Rodrick have a chase scene between Coach Malone.
 * Rowley was involved in the party Rodrick threw as Greg called him to rescue him from the basement that Rodrick locked him in. Rowley did so but Rodrick locked him in the basement too. However, Rodrick was forced to let Greg and Rowley out so that Greg can talk to their mom on the phone.
 * Holly Hills makes a bigger part in the film than the book but Heather Hills doesn't appear in the movie.
 * Bill Walter is made an antagonist of the movie as trying to kick Rodrick out of the band while he is only a minor character in the novel.
 * The party Rodrick threw was shown while in the novel, it was not seen.
 * Rowley has a slumber party with Greg in the movie a lot earlier than in the novel.
 * Uncle Joe and his children were absent from the movie, which enhanced the entire Thanksgiving scene from the book.
 * Leland is absent from the movie, but he is seen in the My Summer Vacation film that comes with the Rodrick Rules film.
 * Rodrick texted everyone he knew about the party in the movie while in the novel, he called them.
 * Greg and Rodrick only had one hour to clean up all the mess from the party in the movie while they had four hours in the book.
 * Susan Heffley started the Mom Bucks deal with 5 bucks in the movie, and Susan never explained each Mom Buck was worth only a real penny.
 * Rowley was the magician but in the book he was the assistant.
 * There was more than one picture of the party in the movie, and while Frank found it as a snapshot picture in the novel, he saw them on the TV screen connected to a video camera in the movie.
 * The door on the bathroom said Rodrick Rules, the title of the movie.
 * Chirag ended the prank Greg played on him on not-existing by sending a fake letter as if written by Holly to Greg in his locker, and disguising a girl to look like Holly so that he can make Greg know he exists and Chirag invites everyone to watch.

Books

 * Greg never wanted to be an internet sensation.
 * The scenes in the movie Rowley takes place in are not necessarily in the book.
 * Greg was not in his underwear when Rodrick stole his diary and Rodrick didn't steal the diary when Greg was sleeping.
 * Rodrick stole Greg's original diary.
 * Greg is extremely more disrespectful towards Rowley in the novel. He has a more selfish and short-tempered character even going against his best friend. However, in the film, he does treat Rowley as a good friend and the magic trick act becomes the climax of the film.
 * Greg and Rodrick never had formed a bond.
 * Holly didn't have an important part in the series until the successor, but in the movie Holly has a very important role.
 * The Mom Bucks deal started with 10 bucks in the novel.
 * All the scenes of Greg playing the joke of non-existence on Chirag were more compressed/connected together in the novel and took place earlier than in the movie.
 * Chirag told on Greg to the vice-principal for pretending that Chirag didn't exist. Also, there were more scenes of Greg playing the joke on Chirag in the novel than in the movie as Chirag had limited screen time.
 * Greg gets his diary back when Rodrick trips over Gutbusters.
 * Greg got carried out of the ladies room by a security guard.
 * Greg did not cover himself with a plant while chasing Rodrick.
 * In the movie Rodrick stole Greg's diary while Greg was asleep. In the book he snatched it off Greg while he was writing in it.
 * The door on the bathroom said "Hi Rodrick"
 * Fregley doesn't appear in the book.
 * Greg and Rodrick never became friends and still were siblings rivals, the only exception is when Greg helps Rodrick work on his school project on plants.
 * In the book Greg is not seen in the party he was in the basement.

Home Media

 * Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules was released on a stand-alone DVD and a Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy combo pack on June 21, 2011. Bonus features include: an alternate ending, seven "My Summer Vacation" shorts, and more. One of the bonus shorts will premiere during iParty with Victorious on Nickelodeon at 8:00 PM on June 11, 2011.

Box Office

 * The film made $7,300,000 on its opening day, ranking #2 behind Sucker Punch. The film managed to rank #1 in the weekend box office.