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Son of Rambow

At least it's better than what Sylvester Stallone's doing now

By Matt Pais

Metromix
May 1, 2008

Critic's Rating:

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After watching a pirated copy of "Rambo: First Blood," nice, religious boy Will (Bill Milner) and rebellious jerk Lee (Will Poulter) team up to make their own low-budget action movie in early '80s England. It's not long before their classmates want to join in, especially after seeing the interest of French exchange student Didier (Jules Sitruk).

Big question: Can this quirky indie capitalize on its buzz from last year's Sundance fest?

Catch it: Unlike "Be Kind Rewind," "Rambow" doesn't simultaneously adore and mock the awfulness of amateur filmmaking, so you actually admire the kids giving their all for their movie. It also manages to deliver coming-of-age lessons in new ways, freshening up the notion that everyone's an outcast somewhere and that a good kid and a bad kid probably don't know how much they need each other.

Skip it: If you still believe that Pop Rocks and cola is a deadly combo. You may be scared when partygoers in "Rambow" mix the two with casual, reckless abandon. Such daredevils!

Bottom line: A disappointingly low percentage of the film's many attempts at humor hit the mark, and halfway through a sense of "OK, I get the point" consumes the overly precious story. But these young actors capture the spirit of creativity and the contagious thrill of movie-making, even if the film about them is less memorable than Will and Lee's experience of making one on their own.

Bonus: In the film-within-a-film, Didier plays a fighter called Wolf, which is a name fans of the new "American Gladiators" will recognize. It begs the question of who would win in a fight: NBC's gigantic man-beast or a skinny French kid in '80s apparel?