Would I like to watch a quirky, surreal, utterly unique film about an absurdly creative boy with a strict religious mother who isn't allowed to watch television and sees Rambo for the first time, a spoiled and pathologically criminal rich kid who wants to make a film, a bored and weird looking French kid who wants to act, all this in an ode to friendship, the power of imagination, childhood and movies?

Hell yeah! And now I'm off on my bike to go to the woods and build me a tree hut.

Film #24 of No Rewatch November

There are problems with tone so that not everything works entirely in the film. The elements that do work are fantastic though. The sense of wonder in childhood and the family/friend dynamics are wonderful. The french dude stuck out like a sore thumb though. What was he doing there?

I can't imagine there's ever been a kid who didn't whip off his school tie and use it as a Rambo-style bandana. This is a fantastic celebration of the imagination of childhood and the magical way in which the movies affect us in our younger years. There are, however, a lot of problems in the story that keep it from being as successful as it feels it could have been. The whole religious aspects serve a purpose, but they never really seem to gel with the rest of the film. Performances are generally solid but one or two waver at times. The soundtrack is a little intrusive and overbearing, and never reeeeally fits the themes of the story as much as it seems to think it does. On the whole it's an entertaining affair that functions as a far better follow-up to First Blood than any of the actual sequels ever did.

All I wanted from this film is that the lead characters were endearingly cute children. And they were.

I'm often unfavourable towards child actors (the early Harry Potters, for example, really are quite, quite bad) but Rambow stars Bill Milner and Will Poulter are solid. They both seem to have held actual conversations in the real world before being handed a film script, so their expression, timing, and intonation are more natural than can be seen in either a nativity play at your local primary school or The Philosopher's Stone.

Although the closing of the story is possibly a little too predictable and (twenty-four hours after watching) I still can't work out why the writer chose to include the rather jolting and distracting French exchange student, Didier, the tone is halcyon and likeable enough to be enjoyable throughout.

This is one of my favorite films to share with others... I mean, how can people not like it? And if they don't, I just disown them as friends; it's that simple.

A cute story about 2 young boys who want to make a movie. Displays the same DIY quality as Be Kind Rewind (if not quite as well).
I think Gerth Jennings' style is comparable to Wes Anderson's with the important distinction that Jennings uses it to enhance the characters rather than for the sake of the style itself.

Inventive, endearing and throughly entertaining.

A wonderful nostalgic look at what it's like to be a kid that hits all of the right notes without stepping into schmaltzy territory. An absolute treat that kept me smiling throughout.

A really lovely little film that everyone on the friggin planet should just watch. The kid's acting is amazing.

Heartwarming tale full of youthful exuberance and imagination, yet slight. The boys' Amish-like upbringing (while providing a nice thematic contrast) was a little undercooked and ultimately inconsequential, and the score was extremely heavy-handed at times. But the recreations (aided by Wes Anderson-styled homemade visual effects) were a joy to experience, and the two young leads were both fantastic

A heartwarmng and often hilarious film about friendship and filmmaking. The best scenes are when the boys are making their own version of Rambo and there are various OTT stunts, I wish I'd had the creativity of these kids when I was younger. Bill Milner and Will Poulter (Voyage of the Dawn Treader) are both excellent child actors (a rarity) and they carry the film with ease. I felt that some things could have been developed further, like the fact that the French kid got bullied by his friends and the mother's rebellious side but this was still a superior family film (although contained a LOT of swearing from children, clearly taking advantage of what they can get away with now in 12a films, similarly to Super 8).

I don't know either kid actors name, but the one who has been in a sketch show (not the one who played child Magneto) is absolutely amazing, he is hilarious.

I tried to like this as it had an interesting concept and one I think we can all relate to, wanting to be a hero such as Rambo, but I couldn't get past the bad acting or bad film-making in general. There were far too many scenes or moments that were pointless, too silly or were just very badly made. The friendship between the main two characters was 'decent' and some of the dream-sequences were nicely animated but overall, it was a disappointment.

All I wanted from this film is that the lead characters were endearingly cute children. And they were.

I'm often unfavourable towards child actors (the early Harry Potters, for example, really are quite, quite bad) but Rambow stars Bill Milner and Will Poulter are solid. They both seem to have held actual conversations in the real world before being handed a film script, so their expression, timing, and intonation are more natural than can be seen in either a nativity play at your local primary school or The Philosopher's Stone.

Although the closing of the story is possibly a little too predictable and (twenty-four hours after watching) I still can't work out why the writer chose to include the rather jolting and distracting French exchange student, Didier, the tone is halcyon and likeable enough to be enjoyable throughout.

High expectations resulted in this being slightly disappointing (when will I ever learn?)