"Son of Rambow" is one of those very British comedies, in the tradition of "The Full Monty" or "Calendar Girls," in which the not-so-promising group of amateurs rally and put on the big show. In this case, it's a pair of 10-year-old boys in rural Hertfordshire circa 1982 — misfit Will Proudfoot and brat Lee Carter — making a home-video homage to "Rambo: First Blood" with their classmates that takes on rather epic proportions, full of dangerously improvised stunts, evil scarecrows and flying dogs.
Yet it's also a loving tribute to the kind of spontaneous childhood play that later flowers into adult obsession. Kids who start off making naff home-brew Stallone vids may someday grow up to be, well, Garth Jennings, the director of this film (and "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"), who admits to the personal nature of this project.
Jennings is part of the production team Hammer & Tongs, along with producer Nick Goldsmith, who made a name for themselves with a number of quirkily memorable music videos, including Fatboy Slim's "Right Here, Right Now," Blur's "Coffee & TV," and Supergrass' "Pumping on Your Stereo," where the band were shown as spidery, elongated puppets.