RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
RT's Blu-ray HQ
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | In Theaters
  • | Opening
  • | Upcoming
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / Son of Rambow
Son of Rambow

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Get this Movie
  • Buy Poster External Icon
Bookmark and Share

Son of Rambow (2008)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
73 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:26

Fresh:19

Rotten:7

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

[See More Credits]

  • Trailers
  • Pictures
  • Trailer
    >
    Shooting Stunts
    >
1 - 2 of 2

See More Movie Trailers & Pictures

Get This Movie

Rent DVD
 
 

Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.

 
 
Buy DVD
 
 
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

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

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.

Full Review Source: Film.com | comment Comment
05/30/08
Jonathan F. Richards
Jonathan F. Richards
Film.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
05/16/08
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Son of Rambow is an inventive and amusing coming-of-age movie that deftly entwines elements of farce and fantasy, rebelliousness and sentiment, while paying seriously funny tribute to the transcendent power of art.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
05/16/08
Joe Leydon
Joe Leydon
Houston Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

These two boys have, along with writer-director Garth Jennings, turned a coming-of-age story into a treatise on both the fragility of artistic vision and the danger of popular opinion.

Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
05/16/08
Tom Long
Tom Long
Detroit News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

After the movie, I imagined its writer-director, Garth Jennings (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) being more than a little like Will, and the movie uncannily similar to one of Will's comic epics.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
05/16/08
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Son of Rambow is filled with small surprises and treasures, a veritable bounty of delight.

Full Review Source: Film.com | comment Comment
05/13/08
Eric D. Snider
Eric D. Snider
Film.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The rapport between the two rogue cineastes is enough to carry both films: the one they're making and the one Jennings is trying to make.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
05/09/08
Peter Howell
Peter Howell
Toronto Star
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Plenty happens, but little of it advances the action, until the finale, which is lovely, but would have been a lot lovelier after 35 minutes, not 90.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
05/09/08
Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A joyous, touching story of friendship, mischief and imagination.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
05/09/08
Colin Covert
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Few movies have captured the intoxicating effect of pop culture on kids better than Son of Rambow.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
05/09/08
Stephen Cole
Stephen Cole
Globe and Mail
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

I can't imagine a better movie for children and adults to enjoy together.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
05/09/08
J. R. Jones
J. R. Jones
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It’s an absolute delight.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
05/09/08
Ty Burr
Ty Burr
Boston Globe
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The kid-heavy cast tends to substitute enthusiasm for subtlety, but the way they throw their hearts into their games just makes it easier to get drawn in.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
05/08/08
Tasha Robinson
Tasha Robinson
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

All part of growing up, an experience Son of Rambow portrays with genuine insight.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
05/08/08
Bill Goodykoontz
Bill Goodykoontz
Arizona Republic
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A noble effort, but it just kind of falls apart.

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
05/05/08
Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

First-time actors Milner and Poulter are gifted and natural.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
05/02/08
Claudia Puig
Claudia Puig
USA Today
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

An '80s coming-of-age comedy with more energy than ideas.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
05/02/08
Kyle Smith
Kyle Smith
New York Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

That unashamed passion for movies explains why, even when it gets a little too sweet in its final scenes, Rambow remains true to itself and to Will and Lee's friendship.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
05/02/08
Joe Neumaier
Joe Neumaier
New York Daily News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

A likable, lightly sticky valentine to childhood.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
05/02/08
Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
all

Latest News for Son of Rambow

August 25, 2008: RT on DVD: Watch Uwe Boll Box Critic, Heroes Season Two Clips
It's a good week to catch up on your favorite shows before the new TV season begins (Heroes Season Two) and a good week to satisfy your curiosity for a certain guilty pleasure... More...

May 01, 2008: Critics Consensus: Iron Man Is Heroic, Made of Honor Isn't
This week at the movies, we've got metal-plated superheroes (Iron Man, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow) and matrimonial mishaps (Made of Honor, starring Patrick... More...

April 23, 2008: UK Box Office Breakdown: Craig's Fool Has Disasterous Opening
Daniel Craig's new film - Flashbacks of a Fool - suffers a disastrous opening weekend, coming in at only 11th in the charts. Fool's Gold and Happy Go Lucky are the big successes More...

April 16, 2008: UK Box Office Breakdown: Sony's 21 Gamble pays off
Gambling drama 21 cleans up at the UK box office this week, taking both the number one spot and twice-as-much cash as another film. George Clooney however should maybe stick to... More...

See All

More DVDs

Close
Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
44% 44% Night at the Museum: B…
32% 32% Terminator Salvation
36% 36% Angels & Demons
95% 95% Star Trek
25% 25% Four Christmases

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
88% 88% Inglourious Basterds
78% 78% The Hangover
49% 49% Taking Woodstock
26% 26% The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard
47% 47% The Girl From Monaco

More New Releases…

See All

RT On Current TV

The Rotten Tomatoes Show on Current TV

DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...

Learn how you can be part of the show

More...

What’s Hot On RT

Sam Worthington

Sam Worthington

A video interview with the Avatar star!

Sorcerer's Apprentice

Sorcerer's Apprentice

Throwing fireballs with Nicolas Cage!

Golden Globes

Golden Globes

Up in the Air leads with 6 noms!

Nominee Gallery

Nominee Gallery

See who got nominated for Golden Globes!

Other News

Close
  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • ET Teases Iron Man 2 Teaser Source: Collider.com
6
  • Tobey Maguire Refutes Hobbit Rumors Source: Hollywood Reporter
4
  • Prince of Persia Featurette Posted Source: Yahoo! Movies
0
  • Trailer Bulletin: Robin Hood Source: ComingSoon.net
51
  • Mel Gibson Plans a Mexican Vacation Source: Variety
8
  • New Iron Man 2 Clue Posted Source: Screen Rant
24
  • Gibson and DiCaprio are Going Norse Source: HitFix
66
  • Lord of the Rings Coming to Blu-ray April 6 Source: Hollywood Reporter
8
  • Tobey Maguire Rumored for The Hobbit Source: Latino Review
42
  • Mila Kunis Talks Aronofsky's Black Swan Source: Collider.com
13
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Tomatometer Watch: Will Avatar Live Up To The Hype?
236
  • Awards Tour 2009: Golden Globe Noms Here!
106
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: Girlpower Rules Again with Princess at #1
70
  • Awards Tour 2009: Inglourious Basterds Lead Critics Choice Noms
42
  • Awards Tour 2009: Avatar Best Picture at NYFCO!
38
  • The Gimmicks That Changed Cinema: Part 1
37
  • Weekly Ketchup: James Cameron Plans a Fantastic Voyage
33
  • The Effects of Where the Wild Things Are
30
  • Robert Downey Jr. talks Sherlock Holmes & Iron Man 2 - RT Interview
21
  • Critics Consensus: Princess, Invictus Are Certified Fresh
21
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • Robert Downey Jr. talks Sherlock Holmes & Iron Man 2 - RT Interview
21
  • Director Ruben Fleischer Talks Zombieland
2
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
17
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
12
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
23
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
8
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
15
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
23
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
9
  • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
28
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • Son of Rambow at Rotten Tomatoes
  • Son of Rambow at IGN

Fresh Links

Featured
Best Sci-Fi This Decade
Best Sci-Fi This Decade External Link

Techland lists the best Sci-Fi films of this decade.

40 Worst Films of the 2000s
40 Worst Films of the 2000s External Link

Moviefone takes a look back at the biggest stinkers of the past 10 years.

10 Questions For Zac Efron
10 Questions For Zac Efron External Link

The Me and Orson Welles star answers reader questions on TIME.com.

Best Decade Ever!
Best Decade Ever! External Link

Hollywood.com's C. Robert Cargill offers his thoughts on what the best decade for film was.

Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure External Link

In the AV Club's "Scenic Routes," Mike D'Angelo reminisces about the Tim Burton film.

Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Follow RT on Twitter External Link

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Games| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.