Release Date: August 26th, 2008
Publisher: Paramount
Price: $19.99
Rated: PG-13 (some violence and reckless behavior)
Run Time: 95 Minutes
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Starring: Bill Milner, Will Poulter, Jules Sitrux, Jessica Stevenson, Neil Dudgeon, Ann Wing, Ed Westwick, Eric Sykes
Special Features: Commentary, Aron, The Making of Son of Rambow
It’s 1980’s Britain. Will is a young boy with a wild imagination. The problem is that his family is part of a religious group named the Brethren. The Brethren are a religious group that forbid TV, movies and music since they think they lead to evil thoughts. One day at school Will runs into the school bully, Lee. Will eventually ends up at Lee’s house where he sees his first movie ever, Rambo First Blood. The movie inspires Will to make his own movie so Will and Lee decide to make their own reincarnation of Rambo. As their movie progresses and more people hear about it; Will needs to keep the movie secret from his family while also dealing with all the kids at school who want to be in the movie. With all the pressure on their hands Will and Lee’s friendship and movie are put in trouble of falling apart at the seams.
When I saw the trailers for Son of Rambow (see below for the trailer) I was intrigued since I thought the idea of two kids recreating Rambo was a perfect idea for a comedy. I never really planned on seeing it in the theater but I wouldn’t have been able to either since it was a small budget movie and we don’t get a lot of small budget movies in Wisconsin. Some time passed since it was in theaters and I totally forgot about the movie. Then the movie ended up on my doorstep about a week ago so I finally had the opportunity to watch the movie. I wouldn’t say I was disappointed with Son of Rambow but it wasn’t what I was expecting.
Son of Rambow was advertised as a comedy but in my opinion I think the movie would have been better advertised as a drama. While there were a couple funny moments, I thought the movie was too serious to be considered a comedy. I guess this might have to do with the fact that Son of Rambow is actually a British movie. If you have read some of my previous reviews you probably already know that I am not a huge fan of British comedy. British comedy doesn’t really work for me for some reason.
Despite the movie not being the comedy that I was expecting it to be, I actually wasn’t that disappointed with the movie. The drama aspects of the movie made up for the lack of comedy in my opinion. I thought the story about the friendship between Will and Lee was nicely done. Son of Rambow is far from a great movie but I thought it was a pretty solid movie overall.
Since this is a foreign film most American’s won’t be familiar with most of the actors. Actually the only actor that I can see a lot of people in the USA knowing is Ed Westwick. You will most likely know him as Chuck on Gossip Girl. Even though the actors aren’t well known I thought they did a very good job. The acting was surprisingly good in my opinion especially with two child actors in the two lead roles. No one deserves to win an award for their acting but it would also be hard to criticize any of the acting.
I found the special features to be adequate. The commentary wasn’t anything special but I have never really been a fan of commentaries. The making of Son of Rambow is your prototypical making of featurette. The one special feature that does stand out is “Aron”. Aron is actually a short film that inspired Son of Rambow. The picture quality of Aron is pretty poor but you have to realize that it was an independent film and probably had next to no budget (who knows it might not have even had a budget). If you are a fan of independent films I think you could really get some enjoyment out of Aron. There are a couple other special features as well but none of them really need to be mentioned. The simplest way of describing the special features as a whole would be if you liked the film you will like the special features.
So in conclusion Son of Rambow wasn’t exactly what I was expecting but I am actually not disappointed. I thought Son of Rambow would be more of a comedy but it ended up being more of a drama. Son of Rambow is nowhere near a great film in my opinion but it is a very solid movie and a good distraction for an hour and a half. If you are a fan of either British cinema or independent films I would recommend that you pick up Son of Rambow. One thing I do have to mention is that you will have to pick it up at Best Buy or bestbuy.com since Best Buy is the only store in the USA that is currently selling Son of Rambow.
