Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (2017 film)

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul is a film based on the ninth book in the reading series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul. Filming for the movie began in September, in Atlanta, Georgia. The film is based on the books, The Long Haul and loosely based from Old School and partly form the third wheel.

Cast

 * Jason Drucker as Greg Heffley, the protagonist
 * Owen Asztalos as Rowley Jefferson, Greg's best friend
 * Alicia Silverstone as Susan Heffley
 * Tom Everett Scott as Frank Heffley
 * Charlie Wright as Rodrick Heffley
 * Dylan & Wyatt Walters as Manny Heffley
 * The Heffley's Pig
 * Chris Coppola as Mr. Beardo
 * Kimberli Lincoln as Mrs. Beardo
 * Mira Silverman as Brandi Beardo

Plot
The film opens up with the Heffley family and Rowley entering Corny's Family-Style Restaurant. While seated at their table, Susan instigates a conversation about their upcoming road trip to Meemaw's house for her 90th birthday, which is met with a negative response from both Greg and Rodrick. Their objections are cut short when Susan sends Greg and Rowley into an indoor playground to help Manny, who has gotten stuck in it.

Greg ends up in a ball pit after falling down the slide and ends up with a diaper on his hand, and begins to thrash his hand around while screaming wildly. A bunch of people notice him and run over with their cellphones to record him. The videos get posted on the internet, where Greg becomes known as a meme dubbed 'Diaper Hands.'

Later at the Heffley residence, Greg complains to Rowley about his unwanted fame as a meme. Shortly after, Greg learns that Player Expo is taking place not very far from Meemaw's house in Indianapolis. Greg's gaming idol, Mack Digby, will be attending, and Greg hopes to meet him and get in one of his videos so people will forget about his meme-age as Diaper Hands. He acknowledges that he will have to somehow sneak off from the road trip and attend the Expo without his parents' knowledge, however.

The Heffley family hits the road, where Greg, Rodrick, Frank, and Manny's devices are immediately confiscated by Susan, who wants the road trip to be absolutely technology-free. Later, after the boys complain they're hungry, Susan sends Greg and Rodrick off into a grocery store with a list of items to buy, but Rodrick veers from the instructions and instead buys a bunch of food he likes.

After arriving at a motel, Greg and Rodrick run to the pool to go swimming, but instead find the pool drained and the hot tub occupied by the Beardos. After heading inside, Rodrick puts a pizza they were hoping to eat for dinner into a mini-safe, thinking it was a microwave. Discouraged, Frank and Susan tuck Manny into bed and get ready for bed themselves, but allow Greg and Rodrick to go back and get in the hot tub when they see the Beardos have left.

Before going to the hot tub, Greg gets into the family car and takes his phone out of the bag Susan had put it in and plans to use it discreetly. Later, when Greg and Rodrick are relaxing in the hot tub, Rodrick hears a notification from Greg's phone and discovers his plans to go to Player Expo. In a panic, Greg accidentally drops a bag of Cheez Curls into the hot tub, turning the water orange and making his body appear orange.

Greg discourages Rodrick from telling Susan, saying that they had a rock band video game tournament there that Rodrick could participate in. Liking the idea, Rodrick opts to go with Greg to the Expo. Going back into the motel room. Greg opens the bathroom door to find Frank sitting on the toilet, typing on his laptop.

Frank explains to Greg that he was using it for work, and discovers Greg is in possession of his phone. They both agree to not tell Mom their secrets in order to keep her from getting mad and to let them continue to use their devices.

After cleaning up in the bathroom, Greg discovers that all of the sleeping places in the motel room had been taken, so he decides to sleep in the closet with only a pillow. His attempts to fall asleep are thwarted, however, when a loud, continuous banging noise disturbs him.

He storms out of the motel room to find the Beardo siblings crashing a trolley full of cleaning supplies into a wall, over and over again. Enraged, Greg threatens to tell their father if they don't stop. Mad, the eldest sibling pushes the cart toward Greg, who dodges it just as Mr. Beardo comes out of his motel room. The cart crashes into the Beardo van, leaving a huge dent and scratch. The eldest then blames it on Greg.

Ticked off, Mr. Beardo goes after Greg, who distracts him just long enough to make a getaway, and hides out in the parking lot. After the Beardos have returned to their room, Greg goes into what he believes is his room, but is actually the Beardos. He wakes up next to Mr. Beardo the next morning, who yells and goes after him again, but Greg is able to slip into his own motel room quickly.

Later on that day, the Heffleys attend a county fair somewhere in the country. Susan has to use the restroom and instructs Frank to stay with the boys and keep an eye on them, then gives Greg and Rodrick money, which they spend right away on fried butter on a stick. Rodrick eats several of these, despite them being extremely unhealthy.

Greg then spots the Beardos, once again, walking near their location. He runs over to Frank, who is busy with a work call and hands the responsibility of taking care of Manny over to Greg. The two of them go to the Livestock Show, where Manny correctly guesses a pig's weight and receives a baby pig as a prize.

Greg and Manny return to Frank, where Mr. Beardo notices Greg and begins chasing after him. Greg and Rodrick meet up again and board the Alien Abduction ride, a spinning attraction that pins you against a wall. Somehow, Mr. Beardo drags himself onto the ride while it is operating and begins making his way over to Greg, who begins climbing up the wall and over riders' heads in an attempt to get away.

While rolling over Rodrick to get to Greg, Mr. Beardo clutches Rodrick's stomach, while causes him to vomit. The vomit comes up and then falls down onto Mr. Beardo's face, which allows Greg and Rodrick to walk off the ride without any inconvenience.

After Susan returns from the bathroom, Manny reveals the pig he won to Frank and Susan, who are both in shock. Frank explains he was on a work call and wasn't actually present at the time Manny won the pig, so he couldn't reject the offer. He also accidentally lets slip that Greg has been using his phone as well. In order to get back at them, Susan says they will keep the pig as their pet indefinitely.

When they get back on the road, Frank receives a work call and instructs everyone to remain absolutely silent since he couldn't actually get a week off. However, Rodrick begins chewing his gum very loudly during the call, so Susan opens up the sunroof and instructs him to throw it out, but begins to close it again when Frank complains about the noise from the wind. As it's closing, Rodrick takes the gum out of his mouth and throws it up, getting it stuck in the sunroof and making it unable to close.

Distracted, Frank begins veering off his lane, which causes a big truck to begin honking at them, causing a chain reaction that eventually leads to the car running through a construction zone. After Frank and Susan pull over and get out of the car to discuss the situation, Greg reroutes the GPS to the address of the Player Expo convention.

The Heffleys, unable to take care of the pig, drop it off at L'il Cretterz Petting Zoo, much to Manny's dismay. He cries quietly in his car seat as the car pulls out.

The Heffleys get a hotel room late the same day, and early the next morning Greg and Rodrick sneak out using the excuse that they are going to get a present for Meemaw, while actually going to Player Expo.

While there, Greg begins playing a bunch of the games while Rodrick attempts to drum in the video game tournament, which he doesn't succeed at. Meanwhile, Frank and Susan get worried about the whereabouts of Greg and Rodrick since they hadn't returned. Susan calls the police to file a missing persons report, but takes back the call when she sees the two boys on live TV. They instead begin going to Player Expo to get the boys themselves.

Greg finally sees his idol, Mack Digby, participating in a video game competition. Desperate to be in one of his videos, Greg instructs Rodrick to record him going up on stage with Mack so his popularity will boost. Greg sneaks on stage but freaks out when Digby notices him and begins yelling at him, causing him to unplug the power cord with his shoe.

Digby is furious until Susan arrives, storming up onto the stage. She begins scolding Greg, and grounds him from playing video games for life. During this, she reveals that he is Diaper Hands to the crowd, who now knows his real, full name and his popularity as a meme. They chant 'Greg Heffley, Diaper Hands!' as he is dragged off stage by Susan.

Near the front doors, Susan opens up to Greg and says that all she wanted was a nice road trip that would bring the family together, and she accuses Greg of not caring. To which Greg responds by saying that Susan is the one who doesn't care about what he likes, which is why he had to sneak out to the Expo in the first place. Having given up, Susan hands her phone to Greg and tells him he can play whatever game he wants on it because she doesn't care anymore.

On the road again, the tarp on the boat that had been carrying the majority of their belongings, hitched to the car, flies off, and their suitcases, clothes and other items fly out all across the road. Forced to pull over, the Heffleys begin picking it all up again when the Beardo van pulls up and begins stealing suitcases and clothes in what Mr. Beardo calls 'payback.'

Worried because the Beardos had stolen a suitcase with a present she had hoped to give to Meemaw, Susan and the family get into the car and go after the Beardos as they drive off. However, they are stopped by a long line of traffic and are forced to wait it out. Susan breaks down and begins crying, and Frank comforts her.

Greg, in the backseat, begins tossing food from his bag of Cheez Curls to seagulls on the roof of the car. The seagulls eventually fly through the sunroof in an attempt to get the bag of Cheez Curls, and Frank slams his foot on the accelerator and panic and makes the car go off an embankment and crash into a stack of hay, busting the radiator.

With their spirits crushed, Greg eventually convinces his family to keep on going. United again, the Heffleys get back in the van, ready to get to Meemaw's. However, due to the radiator, the AC must be cranked up all the way to keep the car moving.

Taking a back road, the Heffleys are greeted by a plethora of hunting and danger signs. A can of cinnamon rolls Rodrick picked up explodes from the heat, and Rodrick believes he had been shot and passes out. In the moment of confusion and the loud noise from the explosion, Frank had driven into a mud puddle.

Susan, Greg, Rodrick and Manny get out of the car so there is less weight for the car to carry as Frank attempts to get it out of the puddle, but are sprayed by mud that the turning wheel spews in their direction. Dirty and caked with mud, the family gets back in the car and pushes on, but stops once again when Greg notices the Beardo van outside a motel. They conspire to get their stuff back from them, and wait until the Beardos head off to the hot tub until they break into their hotel room.

They begin trashing the place, looking for their belongings, until they realize their stolen items were in the Beardo van, not in the motel room. However, Greg and Rodrick need to use the restroom, so they stay behind while Frank and Susan take the Beardo's keys to get into their van.

After washing up, Greg is alerted by Rodrick through a window that Mr. Beardo was approaching the bathroom. In a split second decision, Greg hides in the shower behind a curtain while Mr. Beardo uses the restroom. Greg gives his location away, and Mr. Beardo finds him. but slips into the tub.

Greg runs out and gets into the van. Frank throws the keys into a dumpster so the Beardos would lose time before they could pursue them and drive off.

The van eventually arrives at a dead end, and Frank drives the van up a hill before it eventually breaks down. Greg discovers that Meemaw's house is just down the hill, and they agree to push the car down it to get to the party and so their car could be towed.

They manage to get the car rolling down the hill, and Frank, Susan, Rodrick and Manny (in his car seat), manage to jump into the car as it's rolling down the hill. Greg, however, lags behind and is forced to jump into the boat.

The hill is bumpy, however, and the hitch comes undone, allowing the boat to diverge from the car and travel freely. Greg attempts to control it using the boat's wheel, but hits a stack of hay bales and is launched into the air. The boat flies over Meemaw's fence and lands into her pool, and the song Splish Splash starts playing.

The Heffleys end up celebrating happily at Meemaw's, and get their car fixed, but the radiator breaks due to the AC not being cranked up all the way. A Spanish-speaking man who works for a towing company pulls over to assist them, but none of the Heffleys can understand him, expect Manny, who speaks in fluent Spanish to the man and explains their current situation. It's implied that he learnt this skill from a CD Susan put in during the road trip, which was a guide to learning Spanish.

The man, Mr. Louis, tows their car, but Manny gives him instructions to the petting zoo where his pig is, and the two reunite.

At the end, Greg explains that although the road trip wasn't perfect, he still wouldn't change a thing. He says that Manny was allowed to keep his pig as a pet, Rodrick was able to get a new van, and Dad was able to explain having time off from work to bond with family. In the after credits scene, two girls take selfies with Greg, who they recognize as Diaper Hands.

Reception
Prior to the release of this film, countless memes and hashtags were made about the new cast such as #NotMyRodrick and calling Rodrick Pleakley, which was a trend on Twitter in retaliation to Charlie Wright's portrayal of Rodrick in contrast to Devon Bostick who was deemed superior by fans. There was a lot of backlash, and whole lot of critics thought it was the worst wimpy kid film. It scored a 3.7 on IMDb, a 39% from Metascore, and Rotten Tomatoes gave this movie a 18% of approval.

Trivia

 * In the books, Greg's family drives a 2001-2007 Dodge Grand Caravan/Chrysler Town and Country. In the movie, they drive a 2011-2014 Toyota Sienna
 * This is the first film with an entirely new cast. This is confirmed because all the confirmed cast members have not been in any other Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies.
 * The short script shared for auditioners feature lines from both Hard Luck and The Long Haul.
 * Rowley has a larger role in the film than in the book, in which he only appears in one flashback illustration.
 * This is the Second Film where the Movie cover doesn't show the cartoon characters and the real visual characters
 * This is the fourth film where an animal appears, making all the Wimpy Kid movies include animals.
 * Unlike the other films, which were filmed in Vancouver, this will be filmed in Atlanta, Georgia.
 * This is the first film where Fregley, Patty, Chirag, and Coach Malone doesn't appear, however in the Movie Diary, it was shown that in a original script, Fregley and Chirag were going to appear.
 * This is the second film not to feature Holly Hills, following the first film. Holly made her first appearance in the second movie.
 * This is the first movie with new actors and actress, as the first 3 movies had the same cast, but they have since all grown up.
 * An updated version of the Movie Diary containing info on this movie was released on May 9th, 2017.
 * Jeff Kinney makes a cameo in this film were he appears for only a few seconds, and has no lines in the movie
 * "Player Expo" might be a possible reference to "Electronic Entertainment Expo" because they're both video game conventions, and they both take place in the summer.
 * Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad can be seen outside Player Expo.

Announcement
The last film was released in 2012, and because the original actors have become too old for their characters, it was largely believed that there would be no more films in the series. This changed when Jeff Kinney announced on Twitter that they were "gearing up" to make a movie for The Long Haul and that they first need a Greg and a Rowley. In the tweet, he shared a link to the website for the online casting call and during the Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Double Down's virtually live event (where the 11th book, Double Down book cover, color and title were revealed) Jeff Kinney hinted at this movie. Then a news article on the website of the today show revealed a few cast member names and stated the film would start filming in September, which it did. Jeff Kinney announced on Twitter that filming would start in September in Atlanta, Georgia. After those announcements, the film was definitely going to happen.