Film
Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
- Home
- Box Office
- Listings
- Trailers
- Features
Bookmark this page- Edition:
Son of Rambow (2007)
Director: Garth Jennings
Movie review
From Time Out New York
Like those kids who made a shot-for-shot video version of Raiders of the Lost Ark in their own backyard (yes, it really happened), the main characters of Son of Rambow possess a certain monomania—fearlessly artistic and, in a way, completely unimaginative. The object of their slavish devotion: Sly Stallone’s pumped-up Rambo in First Blood, a VHS copy of which passes from the bullying hands of Lee (Poulter) to those of religiously raised Will (Milner), promoted from his daily beatings from Lee to vine-swinging stunt work. What happens then, in their early-’80s suburban playtime, comes to symbolize a final block against maturity, like Rushmore’s Max Fischer mounting Serpico for the stage—it’s charming, but not exactly new.
Much could be said of Son of Rambow itself, a hermetic Sundance sensation. While writer-director Garth Jennings (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) is smart enough to realize he can’t merely traffic in nostalgia, the subplots he devises are painfully predictable. Domineering or absent authority figures, a stylish French foreign-exchange student (Sitruk) whose fame threatens the partnership, the possibility of (gulp) girls: All rear their heads in ways that only underscore a muddled creative vision that forgets the joys of pure, prepubescent escapism. Actually, maybe those Raiders kids had it right after all.
Author: Joshua Rothkopf
Time Out New York Issue 657: May 1 - 7, 2008
User reviews of this film
-
- chris said...
- Posted on Apr 10 2008 12:27 Great film! It's all about what's important in life. The stifling religious community doesn't have it. The rich family with the bullying older brother doesn't have it. The French poser doesn't have it. Will and Lee discover it in the power of the 'blood brother' relationship and all that entails. It's a powerful friendship that in the end, transforms the families of both boys. I wonder how many in the audience will realize that 'blood-covenant' itself is a 'God-thing', which wins out over both religianity and materialism every time!
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Fred Quimby said...
-
Posted on Apr 09 2008 17:52
The goverment is secretly planning to implant microchips
into the heads of newly born babies. I suggest we all do what ever we can to protect our children from these freaks.
Films good though. - Report as inappropriate
-
- gill said...
- Posted on Apr 09 2008 16:09 just would like thoughts on movie
- Report as inappropriate
Cast & crew
Director: Garth Jennings
Cast: Bill Milner, Will Poulter, Jules Sitruk, Jessica Stevenson, Zofia Brooks, Neil Dudgeon, Tallulah Evans, Adam Godley, Jessica Hynes full cast
Genre(s): Comedy
Rated: PG-13
Duration: 96 mins
US Release: Apr 4 2008
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.
What do you think?
Post your review now