'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' a juvenile gross-out

DIARY OF A WIMPY KID — ★★ — Zachary Gordon, Robert Capron, Rachael Harris; rated PG (vulgarity, violence, slurs, mild profanity); in general release

If nothing else, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" seems like it was written by a pre-teen — or at the very least, that the writers had real pre-teens to rely on for information and other insights.

And this live-action adaptation of the popular cartoon-and-prose books for kids definitely nails the tone and feeling of the middle-school experience as a result.

Unfortunately, that also means the movie is full of crude, juvenile humor. At times, "Wimpy Kid" seems preoccupied by the somewhat disgusting fluids and other substances that come from or out of our bodies.

Possibly worse than that, though, is that the movie asks us to root for a main character who's somewhat unlikable, someone who does some pretty despicable things before he gets his eventual, much-deserved comeuppance.

He's Greg Heffley, played by Zachary Gordon. This undersized and scrawny youth is about to enter middle school and is terrified by that prospect.

Greg isn't very popular. The only person he can rely upon is his best friend, Rowley Jefferson (Robert Capron). But this wide-eyed innocent sees nothing wrong with riding a supposed "girl bike" or with asking Greg to come over for "play dates."

So the desperate Greg does what he must to survive middle school and is even prepared to sacrifice his friendship with Rowley.

Still, even that may not prevent him from getting bullied or from the dreaded "cheese touch" — the taint from a piece of moldering cheese that's been plastered to the playground blacktop for years.

Again, the movie is heavy on similarly disgusting gross-out gags. And story lines about Greg's fellow outcast (Chloe Moretz) and his childhood nemesis (Laine MacNeil) don't really go anywhere.

It also makes Greg's parents (Rachael Harris and a woefully underused Steve Zahn) and his mean older brother (Devon Bostick) the butt of various demeaning jokes.

Again, this might not be so noticeable if we liked the main character more. But as played by the smart-alecky Gordon, he's kind of a jerky kid more than a wimpy one.

"Diary of a Wimpy Kid" is rated PG and features crude humor and references relating to various bodily functions (including toilet gags and nose-picking jokes), supposedly comic violence (slapstick pratfalls, athletics-based violence, bullying and child-in-peril elements), derogatory language and slurs, and scattered mild profanity (mostly religiously based). Total running time: 91 minutes.

e-mail: jeff@desnews.com