...an uneven film, but a special one that earns its ahs.
Son of Rambow (2008)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:115
Fresh:85
Rotten:30
Average Rating:6.8/10
Consensus: Undeniable heart and charming young leads save the film's nostalgic storyline from suffering at the hands predictability.
Theatrical Release:04-04-2008
Synopsis: Writer-director Garth Jennings and producer Nick Goldsmith, who as Hammer & Tongs have made music videos for such groups as Fatboy Slim, Supergrass, Blur, and REM, follow up their 2005 film, THE... Writer-director Garth Jennings and producer Nick Goldsmith, who as Hammer & Tongs have made music videos for such groups as Fatboy Slim, Supergrass, Blur, and REM, follow up their 2005 film, THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, with the charming indie SON OF RAMBOW, a love letter to the movies. A success at such festivals as Toronto and Sundance, SON OF RAMBOW stars Bill Milner as Will Proudfoot, a shy, reserved young boy who is different from the other kids because his family is part of the Brethren, a religion that shuns the outside world, not allowing him to have friends at school or to watch television. While in the hallway in school one day because he can't watch an educational film in class, Will gets into a fight with Lee Carter (Will Poulter), a tough kid who gets into trouble all the time. Lee forces Will to help him make a homemade version of the Sylvester Stallone film FIRST BLOOD, but after watching the original, Will is captivated by the movie and writes his own sequel, casting himself as the son of Rambow (he misspells the name of the character). Will and Lee use their imagination and lots of grit to get the project off the ground, bonding as only blood brothers can. But soon the entire school wants to participate in the movie, including ultra-cool French exchange student Didier Revol (Jules Sitruk), jeopardizing the integrity of the production as well as Will and Lee's growing friendship. Milner and Poulter, both making their feature-film debuts, are engaging as the lead characters. Jennings sets SON OF RAMBOW in the 1980s, before cell phones, digital cameras, and YouTube changed the way people communicate. Amid a soundtrack that includes music from such seminal period bands as The Cure and Depeche Mode, the two young boys learn about family and friendship, jealousy and ego as their carefully controlled worlds threaten to implode. [More]
Starring: Will Poulter, Bill Milner, Jules Sitruck, Charlie Thrift
Starring: Will Poulter, Bill Milner, Jules Sitruck, Charlie Thrift, Jessica Stevenson, Neil Dudgeon
Director: Garth Jennings
Director: Garth Jennings
Screenwriter: Garth Jennings
Producer: Nick Goldsmith
Composer: Joby Talbot
Studio: Paramount Vantage
Reviews for Son of Rambow
If you, too, are a son of Rambow, or are from the era of The Lone Ranger or even the Power Rangers, this movie calls to you.
SON OF RAMBOW is full of ideas and imagination, but I think Jennings buries himself with all of his ambition.
Jennings has crafted a work that beautifully -- and humorously -- evokes childhood and the impact of movies on children.
A number of young boys attended the screening I went to, and none of them seemed to be quite sure when they were supposed to laugh.
Jennings is clearly having a wonderful time recreating the fantasies of his youth, but sometimes his perspective get a little too inbred, and the picture suffers for it.
Wistful and a little wonky, playfully recreating a fanciful early '80s UK summer, Son of Rambow definitely feels like someone's personal experiences reinterpreted for public consumption.
The word is that even Sly Stallone gave this film a blessing, marking one of the few times that the guy involved with the likes of Judge Dredd and Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot has displayed a modicum of good taste.
It would be dishonest of me to say that it's more than an endearing, well-acted trifle with lovely intentions.
What could have been an insightful look at how film and television mold our personalities is instead just another film about childhood friendship -- sweet, huggable and toothless.
The young performers, especially Milner and Poulter, are engaging without being cloying.
A funny, worthy film that -- unlike Sylvester Stallone's one-man army -- loses focus before it completes its mission.
It serves as both a coming of age film and a love letter to the power of movies.
Inspiration comes in all forms and writer/director Garth Jennings gets that idea across with equal parts cliché and whimsy.
It's subversively eccentric and poignant but lacks the punch that fully fleshed-out characters and a more cohesive story could deliver.
Son of Rambow conveys the passion and imagination of these kids... But what the film also does is to place their fantasies in a very real context.
We cringe and laugh at -- and are ultimately moved by -- their clumsiness and innocence. And it endears us to the Rambo films in ways we never could have anticipated.
You know the Sundance drill: Eventually, the whole school is caught up in their good-natured artistic high jinks, and all involved learn the heartwarming lesson that there's a place in the world for a group of loners.
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