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36
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93
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64
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36
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47
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54
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93
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82
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79
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79
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78
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76
Shine a Light
73
Kung Fu Panda
71
Tropic Thunder
71
Horton Hears a Who!
69
Redbelt
69
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
67
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
65
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
64
Wanted
64
Pineapple Express
63
Home Alone
63
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, The
62
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, The
61
Stop Loss
61
Incredible Hulk, The
58
Mist, The
57
Forbidden Kingdom, The
57
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
57
Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D
55
Street Kings
55
Nim's Island
55
Baby Mama
54
You Don't Mess with the Zohan
54
Get Smart
53
Sex and the City: The Movie
51
300
51
Mamma Mia!
50
Step Brothers
49
Hancock
48
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
47
Strangers, The
47
Swing Vote
47
X-Files: I Want to Believe, The
44
Ruins, The
43
Meet Dave
41
Drillbit Taylor
37
Made of Honor
37
Shutter
37
Speed Racer
36
Space Chimps
36
College Road Trip
36
What Happens in Vegas...
35
Jumper
34
Happening, The
34
10,000 B.C.
33
Superhero Movie
31
Deception
31
Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, The
24
Love Guru, The
22
Postal
xx
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
xx
Fly Me to the Moon
xx
Mirrors
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
85
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67
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40
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xx
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80
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55
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73
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xx
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78
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47
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47
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80
Bigger, Stronger, Faster*
60
Blind Mountain
59
Bottle Shock
75
Boy A
55
Bra Boys
61
Brick Lane
64
Brideshead Revisited
61
Bustin' Down the Door
xx
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70
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49
Children of Huang Shi, The
83
Chop Shop
82
Chris & Don. A Love Story
78
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54
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75
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48
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54
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64
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86
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28
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62
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52
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81
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62
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64
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58
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51
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57
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86
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63
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83
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60
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72
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47
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31
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67
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62
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55
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69
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73
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59
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10
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68
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25
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62
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38
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72
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70
Love Songs
68
Mad Detective
63
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89
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64
Married Life
30
Meet Bill
xx
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33
Miss Conception
53
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74
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52
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52
My Blueberry Nights
71
My Brother Is an Only Child
84
My Winnipeg
44
No Regret
61
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69
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80
Order of Myths, The
61
OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies
70
Outsourced
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66
Patti Smith: Dream of Life
68
Praying with Lior
72
Priceless
51
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55
Quid Pro Quo
61
Red
29
Red Roses and Petrol
79
Reprise
71
Roman de gare
78
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
56
Sangre de mi sangre
51
Savage Grace
76
Shotgun Stories
47
Sixty Six
66
Son of Rambow
70
Standard Operating Procedure
57
Stone Angel, The
61
Stuck
72
Surfwise
27
Take
80
Tell No One
56
Then She Found Me
xx
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71
To the Limit
54
Tracey Fragments, The
72
Transsiberian
71
Trumbo
71
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xx
Two Tickets to Paradise
83
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55
Unknown Woman
86
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59
Very British Gangster, A
79
Visitor, The
61
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37
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65
Water Lilies
49
What We Do Is Secret
66
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Without the King
72
Woman on the Beach
66
XXY
67
Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
75
Young@Heart
89
Man on Wire
86
Up the Yangtze
86
Edge of Heaven, The
86
Flight of the Red Balloon, The
85
Alexandra
84
My Winnipeg
83
Frozen River
83
Chop Shop
83
Paranoid Park
83
U2 3D
82
Chris & Don. A Love Story
81
Encounters at the End of the World
80
Tell No One
80
Bigger, Stronger, Faster*
80
Order of Myths, The
80
Band's Visit, The
80
Last Mistress, The
79
Reprise
79
Visitor, The
78
Before I Forget
78
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
78
Counterfeiters, The
76
Shotgun Stories
75
Young@Heart
75
Days and Clouds
75
Boy A
74
Mongol
73
Beauty in Trouble
73
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
72
Lou Reed's Berlin
72
Woman on the Beach
72
Transsiberian
72
Full Battle Rattle
72
Priceless
72
Surfwise
71
To the Limit
71
Tuya's Marriage
71
My Brother Is an Only Child
71
Trumbo
71
Roman de gare
70
Standard Operating Procedure
70
Love Songs
70
Outsourced
70
Caramel
69
Go-Getter, The
69
Operation Filmmaker
68
Heartbeat Detector
68
Mad Detective
68
Honeydripper
68
Praying with Lior
67
Jellyfish
67
Girl Cut in Two, A
67
Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
67
Alice's House
66
Son of Rambow
66
Patti Smith: Dream of Life
66
XXY
66
American Teen
66
When Did You Last See Your Father?
65
Water Lilies
64
Brideshead Revisited
64
Married Life
64
Dreams with Sharp Teeth
64
Fall, The
63
Foot Fist Way, The
63
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
63
Man Named Pearl, A
62
Baghead
62
Expired
62
In Search of a Midnight Kiss
62
Kabluey
62
Kiss the Bride
62
Girls Rock!
62
Elegy
61
Bustin' Down the Door
61
Wackness, The
61
Stuck
61
OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies
61
On the Rumba River
61
Red
61
Brick Lane
60
Fugitive Pieces
60
Blind Mountain
59
Gunnin for that #1 Spot
59
Very British Gangster, A
59
Bottle Shock
58
Felon
57
Flawless
57
Stone Angel, The
56
Then She Found Me
56
Sangre de mi sangre
55
Jihad for Love, A
55
Quid Pro Quo
55
Beautiful Losers
55
Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
55
Irina Palm
55
Unknown Woman
55
Bra Boys
55
Without the King
54
Diminished Capacity
54
Tracey Fragments, The
54
CSNY: Déjà Vu
53
Mister Lonely
52
Elsa & Fred
52
Mother of Tears, The
52
My Blueberry Nights
51
Finding Amanda
51
Promotion, The
51
Savage Grace
50
Last Stop for Paul
49
Children of Huang Shi, The
49
What We Do Is Secret
48
Death Defying Acts
47
Doorman, The
47
Bella
47
Before the Rains
47
Full Grown Men
47
Sixty Six
44
No Regret
40
America the Beautiful
39
August
38
Life Before Her Eyes, The
37
War, Inc.
36
Holding Trevor
33
Miss Conception
31
Garden Party
30
Meet Bill
29
Red Roses and Petrol
28
Eight Miles High
27
Take
25
Hell Ride
10
Harold
xx
Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer
xx
Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic
xx
Two Tickets to Paradise
xx
Henry Poole is Here
xx
Canary
xx
Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer
xx
Midnight Meat Train, The
xx
Beer for My Horses
xx
Bachna Ae Haseeno
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Son of Rambow
Paramount Vantage
|
|
FILM:
MPAA RATING: PG-13 for some violence and reckless behavior
Starring
Bill Milner,
Will Poulter,
Jules Sitruk,
Jessica Stevenson,
Neil Dudgeon,
Anna Wing,
Ed Westwick,
and
Eric Sykes
Son of Rambow is a hilariously fresh and visually inventive take on friendship, family, film heroes, and the death-defying adventures of growing up in the video age. The story takes place in 1980s Britain, where young Will Proudfoot is raised in isolation among The Brethren, a puritanical religious sect in which music and TV are strictly forbidden. When Will encounters his first movie, a pirated copy of Rambo: First Blood, his imagination is blown wide open. Now, Will sets out to join forces with the seemingly diabolical school bully, Lee Carter, to make their own action epic, devising wildly creative, on-the-fly stunts, not to mention equally elaborate schemes for creating a movie of total commitment and nonstop thrills while hiding out from The Brethren. When school popularity finally descends on Will and Lee in the form of, oui, the supercool French exchange student, Didier Revol, their remarkable new friendship and precious film are pushed, quite literally, to the breaking point. (Paramount Classics/Vantage)
GENRE(S): |
Comedy
|
Drama
|
WRITTEN BY: |
Garth Jennings
|
DIRECTED BY: |
Garth Jennings
|
RELEASE DATE: |
Theatrical: May 2, 2008
|
RUNNING TIME: |
96 minutes, Color |
ORIGIN: |
USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
91
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Sean Axmaker
Perhaps the most ingeniously imaginative element in Son of Rambow, a film exploding with imagination (some of it scrawled directly over the film in animated expressions of Will's private world), is its very conceit.
89
Austin Chronicle
Kimberley Jones
Funny and sweet and guaranteed to flood you with good feeling.
88
Boston Globe
Ty Burr
In many ways, Son of Rambow plays like a pint-size, even cheekier version of the recent Michel Gondry film "Be Kind Rewind." Both are stories about people making movies not because it's their job but because doing so brings a vast sense of play into their lives.
83
Portland Oregonian
Shawn Levy
Watching skinny-armed little Will pretend to be the spawn of Sly Stallone in a series of botched feats of derring-do is a treat, as is much of this film.
80
Chicago Reader
J.R. Jones
Jennings's film, with its missing fathers, sometimes threatens to become cloying, but it's almost always righted by a healthy dose of slapstick or the spectacle of little kids posing as muscle-bound killers.
80
Film Threat
Jamie Tipps
This year’s diamond in the rough, a small movie that is big in heart and promises to be big at the box office.
75
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
A quirky charmer.
75
USA Today
Claudia Puig
Don't be put off by the title. This is no sequel, but a surprisingly charming British comedy that is only tangentially associated with "Rambo."
75
Chicago Tribune
Tasha Robinson
A quirk-heavy comedy that tonally reads almost exactly like "Millions," as executed by amateur actors having the time of their lives.
75
Philadelphia Inquirer
Carrie Rickey
As is the case with many English comedies, some of the film's slang is hard to understand. But Jennings' sprightly films proves that although England and America are countries divided by the same language, they are united by slapstick comedy.
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Stephen Cole
Few movies have captured the intoxicating effect of pop culture on kids better than Son of Rambow.
75
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
For much of its frolicsome, rambling running-time, Son of Rambow is like a guarana-spiked soft drink: It goes down easy and delivers a kick.
75
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
The film is filled with scenes about scrappy, cut-and-paste filmmaking, and the movie-within-a-movie that drives the plot also ends up as the centerpiece of the hugely affecting final scenes.
75
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
A gentle story that involves a great deal of violence, but mostly the violence is muted and dreamy, like a confrontation with a fearsome scarecrow that looks horrifying but is obviously not real --- or real enough, but not alive.
70
Slate
Dana Stevens
Son of Rambow bristles with the anarchic energy of late childhood and a genuine respect for the life-changing power of movies--even (or especially) the schlocky ones.
70
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
A crowd-pleasing combination of buoyant spirit and occasionally dark humor.
70
The New York Times
Manohla Dargis
A likable, lightly sticky valentine to childhood, the 1980s and the dawning of movie love, Son of Rambow was written and directed by Garth Jennings and produced by Nick Goldsmith, the duo behind the underappreciated fantasy "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."
70
Village Voice
Jim Ridley
At its most likable, Son of Rambow evokes the rush of discovery that turns budding cinephiles into lifers--that delight in finding a film that seems to express or coalesce some inchoate yearning, including a yen to share.
67
Christian Science Monitor
Peter Rainer
My only regret is that the film could not somehow take a leap forward to 1988. I would love to have seen what Lee and Will could do with "Die Hard."
63
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
The resulting tale of friendship and family touches plenty of crowd-pleasing buttons but comes across as more than a little derivative.
63
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
An endearing, well-acted trifle with lovely intentions.
60
Variety
Robert Koehler
A sweetly raucous adventure. Widely quoted comparisons to "Billy Elliot" and Tim Burton overstate the case for what is really a modestly eccentric entertainment.
60
New York Daily News
Joe Neumaier
Luckily, Son of Rambow, a comedy that's part kid-buddy flick, part valentine to filmmaking - and full of heart - has both.
58
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
The team who made "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" display plenty of whirligig energy, if not much control or lightness of touch.
58
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Scott Tobias
The shooting of the movie-within-a-movie offers the brightest moments in Son Of Rambow, a testament to the innocence of the boys' creative impulse and the sheer unlikely pleasure of their friendship.
50
The Hollywood Reporter
Duane Byrge
A hodgepodge of popular kids' elements crammed into a mishmash of a movie.
50
New York Post
Kyle Smith
An '80s coming-of-age comedy with more energy than ideas.
50
Los Angeles Times
Carina Chocano
The super-hip style is groovy but doesn't mask the fact that Son of Rambow doesn't really go anywhere special or say anything much. For a film about falling in love with the movies, its insights on them are next to nil.
25
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
If it happens to hit you right - that is, if you happen to catch its wavelength of tear-and-a-smile whimsicality - the movie will speak to you.
The average user rating for this movie is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 11 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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