Overall, this is a funny and tough-minded slice of weird life, as well as a sweet if wayward ode to movie love.
Son of Rambow (2008)
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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
It never makes the mistake of condescending to its audience by turning its tykes into overgrown adults. The childhood experience feels emotionally accurate.
So accurately captures how boys behave, you'd think Jennings planted his camera inside a 10-year-old's skull, then beamed the child's imagination directly through his saucer-wide eyes onto the theater's screen.
How many of us were first introduced to the giddy, gory glory of the movies at a friend's house?
After making his feature debut with the rather inspiration-challenged big-screen Hitchhiker's Guide, director Garth Jennings wisely shifts to a more intimate and personal canvas.
As raw and a flight of adolescent fancy as Saturday Night Live's "Lazer Cats!" skits.
Son of Rambow maintains just the right tone throughout with its guileless, makeshift charm.
A slight but infectious British comedy, Son of Rambow charms in spite of a slim plot and sketchy character development. The first ninety minutes may not be, but the last five are just about perfect.
Full of quirk, slapstick and dry British humor, Son of Rambow is a delight, but too often forgets to stay true to its heart.
The team who made The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy display plenty of whirligig energy, if not much control or lightness of touch.
While writer-director Garth Jennings is smart enough to realize he can’t merely traffic in nostalgia, the subplots he devises are painfully predictable.
Son of Rambow evokes the rush of discovery that turns budding cinephiles into lifers -- that delight in finding a film that seems to express or coalesce some inchoate yearning, including a yen to share.
It’s hard to make the leap from Stallone’s American jingoism to a nascent British graphic artist’s developing pop whimsy.
The tone is light and unpretentious and it offers an opportunity for some '80s reminiscing. Ultimately, however, it's forgettable, disposable entertainment.
Until it dissolves into routine sentimentality, Son of Rambow proves a welcome corrective to the legion of post-Rushmore indies defined by their precious quirkiness and pathos.
Though set in particular context (Britain in the VCR Age), this charming reverie displays some universal themes--the meaning of friendship, family ties, movie heroes (of good or bad, right wing or left wing adventures), attesting to the medium's power.
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