I hated middle school. I really don't hate much. Just the Holocaust, evil, injustice, bad calls by sporting officials, and bullies. I guess it's the last one which makes me remember middle school with extreme prejudice, but watching Diary of a Wimpy Kid was nearly enough to make me break out in cold sweats. Seriously, I'm with eleven-year-old Greg Heffley (Zachary Gordon): middle school might be the worst invention ever.

The first in what will probably be a series of films based on Jeff Kinney's books (Rodrick Rules, the sequel, is already in the works) finds Heffley entering middle school, tormented by his older teenage brother Rodrick (Devon Bostick), watched over by his mostly annoying parents (Steve Zahn and Rachael Harris), and antagonized by his gym teacher Coach Malone (Andrew McNee). And, of course, like most school movies, Heffley must navigate the rough road of friendship that encapsulates middle school and high school (and young adulthood for some) as he alienates the friends he has and makes new ones.

I think that Diary is enjoyable because Heffley is so typically middle school: he thinks he knows everything and he thinks he knows how to survive in the real world on his own. He's like most of us, thinking he can do it on his own, and every person he meets in middle school, including his best friend Rowley (Robert Capron), is a means to the end of his being in the top ten of the "favorite people in school list." What he doesn't see is that he's artificially created what middle school will be like, and the pitfalls he experiences are the result of his ego, his suppositions about knowing everything, and sometimes, the lies of his brother.

What happens with Diary is that you begin to recognize that this might be for kids but it's not just about middle school. We all think we know everything, we think we can make it on our own, and especially in Facebook age, we think friendship and relationships are more and more about numbers and status. Or at least those are the lies we're often fed by society. Seriously, when is the last time you saw a commercial not put on by a church that showed a bunch of well-dressed kids helping homeless or elderly people? They're all partying! Sorry, I know it's a bit of a diatribe, but the film shows us that in the end, friendship matters, relationships matter, and who you are to someone else matters, more so than figuring out where you rank on the friend scale.

It's definitely a lesson that plenty of adults could stand learning; really, it's one that we need to reteach ourselves and our children over and over again until we believe it. It's about recognizing that we were created for a purpose, in the image of God, not for some silly talent score, ranking, or applause. I guess we'll have to keep trying to learn that, with God's help and each others, and maybe at the end of the day, we'll get it right.