Son of Rambow **** (2007, Bill Milner, Will Poulter, Jessica Stevenson, Eric Sykes, Anna Wing) – Classic Movie Review 3283

Wild laughter and goofy nostalgia are on the tasty menu for this superlative little action adventure comedy movie about misspent youth from writer-director Garth Jennings, who also filmed The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Back in the good old days (?!) of the early Eighties, when Sylvester Stallone ruled as movie hero Rambo, a nice Brit schoolboy called Will (Bill Milner) gets mixed up with classroom terror Lee (Will Poulter). The two contrasting youngsters become friends and, when Lee shows Will a bootleg of First Blood (1982), they are inspired to make their own version.

Soon Will becomes the bandanna-ed stuntman star of their daft action home movie, Son of Rambow, and the two outsiders achieve star status in the school.

This delightful, deliciously offbeat children’s movie is packed with high spirits and big laughs.

The kids are charming and an absolute hoot. Bill Millner is an timid innocent and Will Poulter is a gleeful tearaway and together they’re comedy dynamite. The stunts they get up to play like a junior edition of Jackass and the film is full of nostalgia for a time when VHS video was cutting-edge technology, sixth formers dressed like Duran Duran, and a school dance meant using songs taped off the radio.

The comedy has its serious side about Will’s battles with his widowed mother (Jessica Stevenson) over his friendship with Lee. But mostly the film is a happy-toned, good-natured look at childhood.

Much of the movie is stolen by Jules Sitruk’s hilarious performance as a fop French exchange student who has too wholeheartedly embraced the New Romantic movement. And it comes complete with an appearance by Anna Wing as Grandma and a hilarious cameo from comedy god Eric Sykes, in a Rambo headband and wig!

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3283

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