Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul is a 2017 American roadcomedy film written and directed by David Bowers. It serves as a standalone sequel to Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, and the fourth installment in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid film series and the final live-action film in the franchise. It was based on the ninth book of the same name, with elements of the seventh, eighth, and tenth books in the series, and was cowritten by the books' author, Jeff Kinney. It is also the only live-action installment in the series not to feature the cast members from the first three films.[5] It instead features a completely different cast (which includes Jason Drucker, Alicia Silverstone, Tom Everett Scott, Charlie Wright, and Owen Asztalos), and the plot follows the Heffleys as they go on a road trip to Meemaw's 90th birthday party, without realizing the various calamities that will occur along the way.
After the release of Dog Days in 2012, the film was described as the last live-action one in the franchise, with the original cast and crew indicating that were no plans for a fourth one or any more sequels. By 2016, a live-action adaptation of the ninth book, The Long Haul, was in development, with the aforementioned new cast. It was released by 20th Century Fox on May 19, 2017. It received negative reviews from critics and grossed $40.1 million.
Plot
During the summer, the Heffleys dine at a restaurant called Corny’s, where Susan announces the family plan for a road trip to attend Meemaw’s 90th birthday party, much to Rodrick and Greg's dismay. Susan promises to "make it fun" for them. Greg is then sent to rescue Manny from inside a tube in the play area but ends up in the ball pit with a diaper stuck to his hand and freaking out while searching for Manny. He subsequently becomes famous when the footage is posted on the Internet, becoming an embarrassing meme called "Diaper Hands". Later, Greg learns that the gaming convention, Player Expo, is taking place not far from Meemaw's house in Indianapolis. His favorite Internet star, Mac Digby, will be attending, so Greg plans to sneak off from the road trip and secretly go to the Player Expo to meet Digby and get in one of his videos to gain popularity, and put the “Diaper Hands" meme behind him. As soon as the Heffleys hit the road, everyone's phones are immediately confiscated by Susan, who claims the road trip to be “absolutely technology-free".
That night, at a motel, Greg secretly gets his phone from the car. Later, while he and Rodrick are relaxing in the hot tub, Rodrick hears a notification from Greg’s cell phone and discovers his plans to go to the Player Expo. However, Greg convinces Rodrick not to tell Susan, telling him that they have a rock band video game competition with a prize of $1000. Liking the idea, Rodrick opts to go with him, as he could win enough money to get his “Löded Diper” van fixed. Later that night, Greg investigates a loud noise: a couple of kids repeatedly slamming a cleaning cart into a wall, belonging to a family which he dubs "the Beardos" due to their father's beard. Scolding them for making a racket, he threatens to have them thrown out. Their father comes out, and nearly gets hit by the cart when his daughter rolls it at Greg, but it misses him and damages their van. She blames Greg, telling her father that he also called him a "Fat Beardo", causing him to plot revenge on Greg.
Back on the road the next day, the Heffleys attend a country fair where Manny wins a piglet to keep as a pet. Mr. Beardo, who is also there with his family, sees Greg and pursues him, but Greg manages to lose him on an amusement ride. The next day, a work call and the piglet's craziness lead to the Heffleys nearly crashing their car on a bridge, and they donate the piglet to a petting zoo, much to Manny's dismay, while Greg reroutes the GPS to the Player Expo. Early the next morning, Rodrick and Greg leave a note telling Frank and Susan that they are out buying a gift for Meemaw, but they sneak out to the Player Expo instead. Thinking they are missing, Susan calls the police but Frank spots Greg and Rodrick being interviewed on TV at the expo.
While Rodrick does not win at the rock band tournament, Greg sees Mac in a video game competition, only to learn he has to wait in an extremely long queue in order to meet him. With not enough time to do that, Greg has Rodrick record him on the stage behind him to make it seem like he and Mac have collaborated together to boost his popularity, but he accidentally unplugs the power to Mac's screen. Susan arrives and accidentally reveals to Mac that Greg is Diaper Hands, humiliating him in the process. She opens up saying all she wanted was a nice road trip to bring them closer together, and accuses him of not caring. Fed up with her being so controlling, Greg calls her out on her hypocrisy and naivety, to which she relents, and gives him his phone back, giving up on the technology-free trip. Back on the road, Greg finds out that Rodrick accidentally used the front-facing camera while recording him on stage, meaning his plan was all for nothing. The tarp on the motorboat attached to the family’s minivan, which contains all their belongings, then blows open and their belongings fly out. The Beardos then show up and begin stealing them as "payback", including a scrapbook as a birthday gift for Meemaw.
The Heffleys chase after the Beardos, but get stuck in a traffic jam. Greg reconciles with Susan, and afterwards, they decide to get out of the traffic jam by taking a back road. They come across the Beardos' van at another motel and retrieve their belongings. Mr. Beardo then finds Greg hiding in the shower from him and attempts to grab Greg, but Greg squirts bath soap into Mr. Beardo’s eyes and Greg escapes. Frank steals their keys to their van and throws them into a dumpster to prevent the Beardos from chasing them. As the Heffleys drive off, Mr. Beardo goes into the dumpster to get his keys, but instead gets a diaper stuck to his hand, recreating Greg’s “Diaper Hands” meme. The Heffleys manage to reach Meemaw's birthday party with Greg in the boat with it detached from the car, and everyone enjoys the party. After the party, the car is still broken. A tow truck driver stops by, but he only speaks Spanish, though Manny is able to communicate with him from a Spanish CD they heard earlier in the trip. He guides them to the petting zoo and he retrieves the piglet. Greg then says that Frank got time off from work to spend some time with his family, and Rodrick was able to get a new van. While the trip was far hardly perfect, it was eventful and he's excited for next year. Susan then steps in to say they will be flying.
In a mid-credit scene, Greg and Rowley take selfies with two teenage girls, who recognize Greg as “Diaper Hands”, much to Rodrick’s jealousy, therefore Greg is now happy being “Diaper Hands”.
The series' author, Jeff Kinney, makes his third cameo role, this time as a booth owner at the Player Expo. Kinney had previously portrayed Mr. Hills in Rodrick Rules and Dog Days.
In 2014, Jeff Kinney replied to inquiries regarding the possibility of more sequels in a YouTube video, stating, "At present, we don't have a fourth film in development, but you never know!"[8][9] When describing the likelihood of starring in another film in the series, Gordon explained, "Dog Days most likely will be the last movie. The main problem is [the cast] is getting older. You can't stop it. There's no way to temporarily stop us from changing and growing up. You know, that's the problem because the characters are supposed to be timeless."[6]
In March 2013, Gordon stated in a Spreecast live stream that there would not be any more live action films.[10] Previously, Kinney had indicated that instead of making a live action film, he would like to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever adapted into an animated film, stating in an interview, "I hope that it gets made into an animated movie. But I'd really like to see it turn into an animated television special." The film Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christmas: Cabin Fever, an animated adaptation of Cabin Fever, would later release on Disney+ in 2023.
In 2016, it was announced that a live-action film adaptation of the ninth book The Long Haul was in development, and would be featuring a completely new cast playing the Heffleys.
Lucas Cruikshank, best known for creating the YouTube series, Fred originally auditioned for the role of Mac Digby. However, he didn't read the script and had no idea of the role he was auditioning for outside of the fact that it was a YouTube role. Coincidently, Cruikshank previously auditioned for the role of Greg Heffley back in the first film.
Release
Theatrical
The film was released on May 17, 2017 in the Philippines, two days later on May 19 in the United States, and on May 26 in the United Kingdom.[5]
A book detailing the film's creation, titled The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary: The Next Chapter, was released on May 1, 2017.[14]
Reception
Box office
The film grossed $20.7 million in the United States and Canada and $19.3 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $40.1 million, against a production budget of $22 million.[3] It was the lowest-grossing film of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by a wide margin.[15]
In North America, the film was initially projected to gross around $12 million from 3,129 theaters during its opening weekend.[4] However, after grossing $2 million on its first day, projections were lowered to $7 million. It ended up finishing with $7.1 million, placing 6th at the box office and marking the lowest opening of the franchise by a wide margin.[16]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 19% based on 70 reviews and an average rating of 4.20/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "With an all-new cast but the same juvenile humor, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul finds the franchise still stuck in arrested – and largely unfunny – development."[18] On Metacritic, it has a score of 39 out of 100 based on 16 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[19] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave it an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, down from the first three films' "A−".[20]
Dennis Harvey of Variety was more positive, calling the film "an amiable, fast-paced entry that should win over fans."[21] Jesse Hassenger of The A.V. Club called the film "repetitive and uninspired".[22]
Christy Lemire of RogerEbert.com criticized it, saying it "Jettisons everything that’s honest and worthwhile about the books in favor of hackneyed misadventures and gross-out scatological humor."[23] Jody Mitori of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch gave The Long Haul two stars out of four and commented on its increase of gross-out humor compared to the book version and previous films.[24] Linda Cook of The Quad City Times called it the worst film of the year so far.[25]
Internet controversy
Charlie Wright, who portrayed Rodrick Heffley, became the subject of Internet memes and criticism in an Internet campaign using the hashtag #NotMyRodrick due to his physical appearance differing from that of Devon Bostick, who portrayed Rodrick in the first three Diary of a Wimpy Kid films. In March 2024, Wright posted a video to YouTube and TikTok detailing his experience with the criticism, stating that he received death threats due to his performance in the film.[26]
Following the release of Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, the likelihood of any potential future live-action films was slim. In 2012, Jeff Kinney, the author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, had announced the possibility for an animated film to be based on Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever as the next installment.[27] In an interview for Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck, Kinney stated he was working with Fox on a half-hour special based on Cabin Fever, which was to be aired in late 2014, but as of 2022, it never came to fruition.[28] In August 2018, CEO of 20th Century Fox Stacey Snider announced that a fully animated television series based on Diary of a Wimpy Kid was in development.[29] On August 6, 2019, after the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney, the project was confirmed to be still in development for the then-upcoming Disney+.[30]
In December 2020, the project was confirmed to have been redeveloped as an animated film titled Diary of a Wimpy Kid, with production already started and with a release year of 2021. On September 2, 2021, it was announced that the film would be released on December 3, 2021, confirmed to simply be titled Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and it would be a retelling of the first book in the series.[31] Swinton Scott was announced as director, and Kinney as producer and writer. Brady Noon, Ethan William Childress, and Chris Diamantopoulos were also announced to be part of the voice cast. Noon voiced Greg, Childress voiced Rowley, and Diamantopoulos voiced Greg's father Frank. Erica Cerra, Hunter Dillon, and Gracen Newton later joined the voice cast of the film. Cerra voiced Greg's mother, Susan, while Dillon and Newton voiced Greg's brothers Rodrick and Manny. The film was released on December 3, 2021, on Disney+, to generally positive reviews. A sequel, Rodrick Rules, was released on December 2, 2022, but was not as critically successful as its predecessor. Another sequel, Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christmas: Cabin Fever was released on December 8, 2023.
