James Patterson has co-written a large number of books. He is almost more brand than author at this point. And this is where the Middle School series of books comes in. Co-written with Chris Tebbets initially there are installments co-authored (and I use that term loosely, because I’m pretty sure Mr. Patterson doesn’t do much other than give outlines and notes) by other authors as well. The idea here is that this is a fairly popular series of books, so naturally a film adaptation would follow. Only, it takes the concept and some characters, then does not use them.
Perhaps most egregiously we have the character of the principal who goes from being a strict authoritarian figure to a full-on antagonist with evil intentions. My son enjoyed the books, finding them an exaggerated depiction of middle school, but relate-able. The film, in his words, was, “not really the book.” While enjoyable enough, having read the book he was expecting at least an approximation of that story. With certain elements present you can say it was an adaptation of the book, “but,” as my son says “not really.”
Maybe if you watch this film before reading the books your enjoyment might be increased.
The acting is mostly well done, especially with regards to the younger cast. Rob Riggle is the mother’s boyfriend, and Andy Daly is the principal, both of whom are presented much more cartoonish than they should have been. Is that to do with the script? The direction? The actors themselves? Hard to tell, but they definitely drag the film down unnecessarily.
Special features are pretty lackluster, with the behind the scenes featurettes, of which there are two, share some footage and together total 15 minutes so it is obvious they did not need to be artificially separated. Two other featurettes aren’t as investigative of the making of the film and total about 8 minutes. Then there is a gag reel and a couple of deleted scenes.
Is Middle School The Worst Years Of My Life worth picking up? If you’re interested in the books and have a middle school aged kid who has not read them it might be worth checking out. If you are a fan of the books you might want to skip this.