Review: Son of Rambow (2007) ★★

Being wholesome does not automatically make a work of fiction praiseworthy; in fact, it generally belies any sense of ambiguity or style. The plots are more likely to be sterile, leaning on the clear-cut dichotomy of Good versus Evil, with moral judgements free of any conflicting interpretations. In Garth Jennings’ Son of Rambow, things are exactly as they seem, and the only contradictions arise from the scattershot plot construction.

Will Proudfoot (Bill Milner) is a shy young boy whose mother, Mary (Jessica Hynes), belongs to a local religious sect. He is forbidden from watching television and is generally kept from socializing with his peers. However, when Will becomes entangled with the school’s resident ne’er-do-well, Lee (Will Poulter), the two form an unlikely bond. Lee enlists Will to act and help film his recreation of Sylvester Stallone’s action movie, Rambo. Though Will wants to keep their activities a secret so as not to upset his mother, the entire school becomes involved after popular French exchange student, Didier Revol (Jules Sitruk), agrees to star in the film. However, Will’s exposure with the rest of the students leads to his meteoric rise in social rank, a change which strains his relationship with Lee.

The thing that is most striking about Son of Rambow is that, despite being such a conventionally-made film, it is somewhat hard to follow. It wants to be quirky, with over-the-top archetypes and unrealistic hijinks, but these just make it seem even less plausible and distract from the more important events. The story is based around the recreation of Rambo, but it is never fully explained why they decided to remake that particular film, other than just being bored and in need of a distraction. The entire filming of Rambo actually feels out of place, and is rendered unimportant in the second half of the film, before coming back into prominence at the very end.

In the film, characters are introduced quickly, and it is assumed that we will immediately care about them, despite having no reason to feel that way. Subplots and characters seem to materialize out of nowhere and then disappear just as quickly. Didier’s inclusion in the film is little more than a distraction, while Lee’s relationship with his older brother is only touched on, but becomes important later in the story.

What makes Son of Rambow even harder to enjoy is the lack of direction. The film wants to produce nostalgia for a simpler time, when children could have fun in the great outdoors all day without adult supervision. It is marketed to older, conservative adults, but formatted like a nonsensical children’s story, so it is unclear who Son of Rambow is meant for. In principle, it should also appeal to Rambo fans, but so little effort is put into the Rambo storyline that it would disappoint that crowd as well.

Like so many films of this kind, there are lessons to be learned. They are overly simplistic lessons, and the filmmakers have no problem beating us over the head with them: people from different backgrounds can become friends, wholesome, childhood friendships can be made complicated due to petty jealousy, religion is good, but too much religion can be bad, loyalty to friends and family is more important than anything else in the world, and so on. It teaches us nothing of substance and makes no great intellectual leaps for the sake of its message, instead relying on tried and true platitudes and traditional values.

Son of Rambow is comforting in the way that predictable, sentimental, nostalgic feel-good movies are, but these kinds of stories have been so overdone that they have lost all credibility for me. I get little pleasure from watching a film whose story is a foregone conclusion. The soundtrack instructs us on how to feel at every moment, the characters behave in accordance with their assigned archetype, and the story, despite jumping from one subplot to the next, takes no risks. There are some who will be able to overlook its shortcomings and enjoy a conventional retelling of an unlikely friendship, but for everyone else, there is nothing to see here.

Rating: ★★ out of 5

Son of Rambow is available to rent or purchase via Amazon here.