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Movies / On DVD / Son of Rambow
Son of Rambow

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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.

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 1 hr 36 mins

Genre: Comedies

Theatrical Release:May 2, 2008 Limited

Box Office: $1,612,881

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

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Release:

Aug 26, 2008

[DVD Details]
 
 

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Keep Case
  • Full Frame - 1.33
  • Letterbox - 1.85

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital - English

Additional Release Material:

Featurette:

  • 1. Boys Will Be Boys: The Making of Son of Rambow
  • 2. Son of Rambow Website Winner

Audio Commentary:

  • 1. Commentary with Director Garth Jennings, Producer Nick Goldsmith, Bill Milner and Will Poulter

Shorts:

  • 1. Garth's Short Film "Aron"
 
 
 
 

Reviews for Son of Rambow

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1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating)
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I was not so engaged as to be moved . . . and felt impatient at the lack of dramatic pace

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
08/29/08
Andrew L. Urban
Andrew L. Urban
Urban Cinefile

It’s hard to make the leap from Stallone’s American jingoism to a nascent British graphic artist’s developing pop whimsy.

Full Review Source: New York Press | comment Comment
04/30/08
Armond White
Armond White
New York Press

SON OF RAMBOW is full of ideas and imagination, but I think Jennings buries himself with all of his ambition.

Full Review Source: Sin Magazine | comment Comment
06/04/08
Austin Kennedy
Austin Kennedy
Sin Magazine

Like a lot of those home movies we made as children, Son of Rambow has the best of intentions and a great set-up, but the ending falls apart.

Full Review Source: The Deadbolt | comment Comment
05/09/08
Brian Tallerico
Brian Tallerico
The Deadbolt

Crammed tight with every kid-pic cliche you can imagine.

Full Review Source: Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus | comment Comment
09/15/08
Bryant Frazer
Bryant Frazer
Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus

For a film about falling in love with the movies, its insights on them are next to nil.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
05/02/08
Carina Chocano
Carina Chocano
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The movie doesn't know if it wants to be a kid's movie (it's not), or just a prepubescent reverie. Either way "Son of Rambow" is a slapdash story told in a slapdash way.

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment 1 Comment
04/23/08
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

It's a fun idea, but quite awkwardly staged and, in the end, not particularly engaging.

Full Review Source: The Australian | comment Comment
09/12/08
David Stratton
David Stratton
The Australian

An almost unbearably tedious kidpic about two fatherless boy opposites using Rambo as a role model.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
06/08/08
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Son of Rambow is pumped up with all the right kids' ingredients: slapstick, fantasy, alienation and severe adult authority figures. But screenwriter and director Garth Jennings has slammed them all together with little cohesion.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
01/26/07
Duane Byrge
Duane Byrge
Hollywood Reporter

Quirky but curiously irritating British period comedy...tries hard to be different, only to prove that different doesn't necessarily mean better, or even good.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment Comment
05/11/08
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion

It's really a touching kids movie about youthful imagination and family values. That's not what I wanted!

Full Review Source: Can Magazine | comment Comment
05/09/08
Fred Topel
Fred Topel
Can Magazine

A tedious movie about kids making an amateur film.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
05/02/08
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

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.

Full Review Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | comment Comment
05/16/08
Graham Killeen
Graham Killeen
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The tone is light and unpretentious and it offers an opportunity for some '80s reminiscing. Ultimately, however, it's forgettable, disposable entertainment.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
04/29/08
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Flatly ignores any kind of joy-of-filmmaking themes and instead takes the standard coming-of-age route.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
05/08/08
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

...relies heavily on an audience's boys-will-be-boys tolerance.

Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | comment Comment
05/18/08
Jim Lane
Jim Lane
Sacramento News & Review

Its heart is surely in the right place. Yet so much of it just doesn't work...that it's hard to get very excited about it.

Full Review Source: DVDTown.com | comment Comment
08/22/08
John J. Puccio
John J. Puccio
DVDTown.com

While writer-director Garth Jennings is smart enough to realize he can’t merely traffic in nostalgia, the subplots he devises are painfully predictable.

Full Review Source: Time Out New York | comment Comment
04/30/08
Joshua Rothkopf
Joshua Rothkopf
Time Out New York

Jennings and Goldsmith make good with the implications of their pseudonym [Hammer & Tongs], treating the proceedings as the world's biggest, baddest science project.

Full Review Source: UGO | comment Comment
05/05/08
Keith Uhlich
Keith Uhlich
UGO
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating)
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