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Friday 9 January 2009

Two little boys

Son of Rambow
12A, nationwide

After the boys meet in a school corridor, they hook up (much against Will’s will, initially) and Will gets to see his first film (a pirate version of First Blood), after which Lee forces him to be his stuntman in his home-shot version. This is an unlikely friendship story, which is fine — who doesn’t like an unlikely friendship story? — but, like much else in this film, it doesn’t ever properly gel. This may simply be because neither boy is especially engaging. Will is dull and a wimp. Lee is a callous bully. Of course, by the end one has learnt some grit while the other has softened but when I say by the end, I mean right at the end, as in: whoa, let’s change your personalities here, guys! As for Lee’s bullying older brother: a miracle!

Written and directed by Garth Jennings (who directed the movie version of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy), it’s quite the mishmash. The derring-do and the fantasy and the bicycle escapes and the slapstick never really come together as a credible whole. And it doesn’t exactly bend over backwards to achieve believability either. OK, heart in the right place and all that, but still. How old are these boys? They’re at secondary school yet act and look so young. According to my press notes they are ten, in which case: what are they doing at secondary school? If this sort of thing bothers you then this will bother you. Also, why is the sixth-form common room a disco? Plus, could you really get a Guide Dogs for the Blind donation box — you know, one of those ones shaped like a golden retriever — to fly through the air attached to a kite. True enough, it’s make-believe, but to believe in make-believe, you do have to be firmly on board in some way. Otherwise, it’s just nonsense.

Fair’s fair, though, and there are some nice comic moments. Eric Sykes’s cameo as the ancient bloke in the old people’s home who’s roped in to play the father of son of Rambow is magic, and the French exchange student who thinks he is Patrick Swayze is quite funny (at least at first; this running gag runs and runs and runs). All in all, it’s not a film to mind too much and while not a great kids’ film there is every chance most kids will like it. Maybe I have been a little too hard, but there is nothing I can do about it now. I’ve got six more kittens to drown plus a puppy to strangle, and all before tea.

More articles from: Deborah Ross | this section

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