Don’t let the awful title put you off.  SON OF RAMBOW is a British film, a well-made rites-of-passage story of two boys of terribly differing natures as they make their first short film.  SON OF RAMBOW is from the team Hammer and Tongs (writer/director Garth Jennings and producer Nick Goldsmith) that delivered the so-so HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY a few years back but this one is their pride and semi-autobiographical labour of love.  Jennings attempted a short film based on FIRST BLOOD as a kid just like his protagonist.  All that said, SON OF RAMBOW is pretty good movie, hitting number one at the box-office in London during the week when I was there on vacation.

Set in the summer in a small English town, the film centres on the friendship of two boys who meet after each is sent out of the classroom – one for misbehavior and the other for not being able to watch the television owing to his religion.  The two make a film, the bully Lee Carter (Will Pulter) directing nerdy Will (Bill Milner).  Other subplots arise in the form of a French exchange student, Didier (Jules Sitruk – believe it or not, this young actor is really French) and other assorted gags that work.  Jennings milks the humour (incident and character derived) for all its worth.

SON OF RAMBOW has quite the number of elements going for it.  It is difficult to dislike a film which centres its theme on filmmaking.  The stringing together of the bits (shown at various parts of the movie) to make the short film a complete whole not is not only well engineered but serves as an effective climax.  Though the film lacks a true villain, religion makes a comical substitute.  While the brethren’s beliefs stifle art, progress and friendship, director Jennings invokes laugh-out loud humour from Brother Joshua’s (Neil Dudgeon) clumsy though well intentioned antics.  The film’s setting in the 70’s aid in creating a warm sense of nostalgia in the time when movies (no ipods, internet, video games) ruled.

The cast is generally unknown though Bill Milner and Will Poulter deliver winning performances.  Those in the know will be pleased with a cameo by Eric Sykes (as appropriately named Eric), a patient in a home that appears as Rambow’s dad in the home movie. Though Jennings’ film gets a bit sappy towards the end, SON OF RAMBOW is consistently inventive, quirky and hilarious making it one of the best bets for a night out at the movies.