Son Of Rambow

Apr 4 2008 by The Journal

(1hr 35mins) Starring: Bill Milner, Will Poulter, Jessica Stevenson, Neil Dudgeon. Director: Garth Jennings

MANY of us who lived through the 1980s will recall it as the decade of leg warmers and Space Dust popping furiously on the tongue.

Son Of Rambow is a delightful coming of age story harking back to those days of kitsch.

Garth Jennings’ adorable comedy centres on lonely Will Proudfoot (Bill Milner), whose mother Mary (Jessica Stevenson) is a member of the very religious Plymouth Brethren and forbids him from corrupting influences like film, television and the radio.

Consequently, Will retreats from his classmates into his sketchbook, where he conjures imaginary worlds.

At school, Will meets troublemaker Lee Carter (Will Poulter), who has been abandoned by his parents and lives with his older brother Lawrence.

When the young tykes spend the afternoon together, Will sees a pirate copy of Rambo: First Blood.

Inspired to imitate Stallone’s muscle-bound killing machine, Will secretly agrees to perform death-defying stunts in Lee’s homemade film, which the boys hope to enter in a national competition.

Son Of Rambow is irresistibly charming, with compelling lead performances from the two child stars – Milner the vulnerable dreamer and Poulter the cheeky rapscallion.

The boys’ film-making escapades are hysterical, including some potentially lethal stunt work with a rickety seesaw contraption.

The script strikes a perfect balance between laughter and tears, building to a deeply moving finale.