OPENING THIS WEEK:
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul There are sketchy reasons for reboots and there are perfectly valid reasons for reboots. Among the valid reasons: Your cast has simply aged out of their roles. That's the rationale for the totally new faces on display in the fourth Wimpy Kid movie, in which a trip to Grandma's house becomes a huge clusterfudge thanks to the allure of a concurrent videogame convention. Into the role of title wimp Greg Heffley steps one Jason Drucker, but is he doomed to become the franchise's George Lazenby by daring to be the second actor to portray a beloved character? Fan reaction to the revamp has thus far been overwhelmingly negative, although particular ire has been directed not at Drucker but at co-star Charlie Wright, who replaces Devon Bostick as Greg's older brother, Rodrick – and who has earned the unfortunate hashtag #NotMyRodrick. Um, you kids do realize there's a constitutional crisis going on, right? (PG)
Everything, Everything Every generation has its own tale about a kid who was born with severe immune deficiencies and raised like a veal. The '70s had John Travolta in The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, the '90s had Seinfeld's Bubble Boy, and now we have Maddie Whittier, central character of this teen weeper adapted from a popular YA novel. Maddie suffers from severe combined immunodeficiency, which means she's confined to her house in Los Angeles with her nurse mother to take care of her. Yet she still manages to carry on a courtship with the fella next door, largely by substituting texting for face-to-face interaction. (In other words, by following the lead of every normal, healthy kid in the country.) Things only get more complicated from there, which means star Amandla Sternberg should have lots of juicy emotions to play in the quest to become the next Travolta. Let's just hope Sternberg doesn't become the next Jason Drucker instead. (PG-13)
The Lovers Debra Winger and Tracy Letts play a middle-aged couple whose marriage is over in every sense save the legal one. But just as they're about to make it official and devote themselves fully to the respective paramours they've retained for years, they start to rediscover their affection for each other – leading to a torrid "affair" they have to hide from those aforementioned side partners! Absolutely hilarious, unless you yourself have ever been in a relationship that was rent asunder by infidelity. Everybody else, knock yourself out. (Both of you!) "Though commercial appeal is limited, older moviegoers should respond particularly well at arthouses," predicts The Hollywood Reporter – saying nothing about the inevitably uncomfortable car ride home. (Note: Local opening of The Lovers has been postponed until May 26.) (R)
