good back-story, and good acting

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

Greg, 12 years old and the middle brother with an almost-toddler younger brother and an idiot-psycho-teenager older brother, is taken on a road trip by his mother who is determinedAfter 3 tolerably entertaining family movies, the franchise has been recast - we have 5 new actors playing Greg, his parents, and his older and younger brothers. I do not think the recasting is an improvement. This is especially so in the case of older brother Roderick who is now played by a young actor who clearly has oriental family somewhere in his near past. I don't have a problem with this, but it does make you raise your eyebrows a bit.The story is dumb (especially the ongoing plot thread concerning Greg falling foul of a large bearded fellow on broadly the same itinerary. I know the crux of the plaot is Greg getting into trouble, but this was just so stupid as to defy credibility.This was a criticism which could be levelled at the whole film. The previous ones were more or less believable, this one was not.Even if it had been funny, I think I would still have balked somewhat at a kids/family film where one of the gags was Greg sitting on the other side of a shower curtain, listening to graphic sounds of defecation from two feet away. Farts are one thing, t*rds plopping into the toilet are something quite other.It was weird seeing Alicia Silverstone, once a sexy nymphet, now playing A middle-aged Mum. One thing stays the same, though: her mouth still has a strange sort of half-life of its own.This film could have been a lot better. A LOT better. But it wasn't.

How does this movie even have 4 stars? It was the worst film of 2017. Even worse than The Emoji Movie.I can't believe that the writers think kids can be this dumb. It is unbelievable. The whole movie is filled with nonstop fart jokes and pee jokes. I only laughed once and it wasn't even a laugh. It was one snicker. The rest are the most disgusting stuff you've ever seen. The casting department was so darn lazy. It clearly looks like they picked the runner ups. Jason Drucker is already off to a bad start. I couldn't tell if he was overacting or not even trying. Charlie Wright is even worse. He reminds me of Keanu Reeves from the late 80s. He was trying so hard to be funny but I didn't at him once. From the trailer I knew he didn't fit as Rodrick. I don't know what happened with the dad. It seemed like they looked back at Steve Zahn's career and thought his costar in That Thing You Do would be the right choice. I thought he could've been more funny. And Alicia Silverstone, I still don't like her from Batman and Robin. Playing a mom who embarrasses her son should've been the easiest comeback for Alicia Silverstone. Instead she brings nothing new to the table. In summary, the old cast was way better than this one.There were moments that could've been emotional, but instead, the lazy writers figured to just slam another lazy joke. Good god this movie was bad. It is a waste of time. I hated almost every second of it. I can't believe that Jeff Kinney said, "I think it's gonna be the best Diary of a Wimpy Kid yet." That was adorable. Fox would be mentally insane to make a sequel to this movie.

AFTER ABOUT 20 MINS INTO THIS MOVIE,I WAS ALREADY SO FU*CKING BORED.THE STORY LINE IS DOG SH*T,THE ACTING WAS JUST SO EMBARRASSING AND THE CHOISE OF ACTORS WAS JUST SO BAD.IF YOU REALY WHANT TO SEE A GOOD DIARY OF A WIMPY KID MOVIE,GO BACK AND SEE THE LAST THREE MOVIES;AT LEAST IT IS BETTER THEN WATCHING THIS SH*T.(OR JUST READ THE BOOKS)

On reflection this has proven to be one of the better films I went to see in 2017. It was refreshing to have a family movie that wasn't touching on the occult, wasn't overladen with mind numbing CGI and was devoid of any violence and nastiness.The Long Road doesn't exactly break new ground - its a kids version of your typical road trip movie where everything that could go wrong does go wrong - but it provides plenty of genuinely funny moments along the way. The humor is more of the original Vacation movie variety than the vulgar remake. The entirely new cast do a good job, particularly Alicia Silverstone as Greg's mother who provides a couple of surprisingly heart tugging moments. The only small gripe I have is with Charlie Wright's Roderick. He is made to be just a bit too dimwitted compared to the previous films.