I don't write about him much, because he's entitled to live his own life and not have it defined by his older sister's blog, but there is a wonderful 13-year-old in my life. And it was with him in mind that I bothered to check out the trailer for Diary of a Wimpy Kid, though by the end, I was entirely charmed on the merits (I'm not familiar with the source material, though I'm aware of the book). I'd really love to see a movie that does for middle school what Mean Girls did for high school, and this looks like it has a chance of being it:
The main character is entirely correct in his declaration that "let me just say for the record, that middle school was the dumbest idea ever invented." But the growth-spurt gaps, gross-out physical humor, and uneven awareness of sexual attraction ("A butt can't be cute. It's a butt.") reads just absolutely spot-on. Plus, the movie furthers the advance of Chloe Moretz, who was probably the thing I liked most about (500)Days of Summer, who is playing Hit Girl in Kick-Ass, and whom I kind of think I adore. She's a year younger than Abigail Breslin (though she comes across as a bit older), and I thin of Moretz as the spice to Breslin's sugar (though Breslin is hardly a goody two-shoes). I'd really like to see them in a movie together, maybe playing sisters on some sort of madcap adventure.