Son of Rambow

Son of Rambow is a charming and very British picture which follows the unlikely friendship of two boys - one a bit of a cocky so and so and the other from a strict Plymouth Brethren family - as they attempt to make their own version of Rambo. It's a film set it the 80s and has beautifully observed moments of the decade - poor hairstyles, VHS video and how cool foreign exchange students seemed. But it should have been such a better film.

Yep, this movie has heaps of charm, some nice laughs, and does capture growing up in the 80s well - it is also incredibly annoying. As much as I wanted to love and be charmed by it, there are just a few too many faults that got in the way of me totalling enjoying it.

Firstly, the two main children are annoying - you, frankly, just want to slap the cocky one, and the acting of the other is, at times, painful. A subplot involving the mother of one of the children as she struggles to do right by both her son but also her strict faith is wonderfully played by Jessica Stevenson, but ultimately seems to go nowhere. The worst thing is the criminal under use of Eric Sykes in a cameo that is so brief that if you blink you are in danger of missing it, but it still completely lights up the film.

Son of Rambow is not a bad film - it has much to commend it - but you just feel that it could have been so much better, and ultimately you sense a wonderful opportunity lost.