When I asked one of the child actors in Monster House about how old he thought audience members should be to see his darker-than-most children's film, he brilliantly responded "if you're old enough to have jumped off a roof." Men everywhere remember that age - the age when we put the toys away and start climbing trees, leaping off buildings, and generally doing things that make the adults look back and gasp in hindsight. Those days of reckless abandon and broken fingers are the creative foundation for Hammer & Tongs' Son of Rambow, a Rushmore-esque journey through childhood, friendship, and the power of celluloid to unite us all. Like a lot of our childhood home videos, Son of Rambow was made with the best of intentions, but not the strongest follow-through. For most kids, the home videos ended when the battery ran out on the camcorder, the tape ended, or the star hurt himself badly enough that a guardian needed to be called. Son of Rambow has a similar arc - great set-up, decent execution, and a completely miffed ending. For good and bad, it will make you feel like a kid again.

The title of Son of Rambow comes from a home movie made by two children from very different sides of the tracks – Will (Bill Milner), a member of the Plymouth Brethren family (which is, apparently, the British answer to the Amish), and Lee Carter (Will Poulter), the bully in school. Neither Will nor Lee have many friends, but for different reasons. Lee comes from a rich, distant family, and Will comes from a very poor one that never allows him to listen to any music or watch movies.

Review by Brian Tallerico 

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Review by Brian Tallerico 

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Review by Brian Tallerico

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