Queue Worthy: Son of Rambow

Odds are you've probably never heard of Son of Rambow. If it weren't for my undying love of public radio I may never have heard of it either, but a favorable review there prompted me to add the movie to my Netflix queue where it sat unremembered until it arrived in the mail a few days ago.

The basic premise is a schoolyard bully tricks his latest "bullee" into being the stuntman in a recreation of  Rambo: First Blood the bully intends to submit to an amateur film contest. It's a comedy, as you've probably guessed, but much more.

It's a hell of a premise, and one that gets better as the story moves along. It's got all of the bad cliches of a John Hughes film--the movie actually takes place in 80's England--but it pays them tribute, and even outperforms those old cliches. It's a comedy, as you've probably guessed, but much more.

For me the film does a wonderful job of capturing boyhood. The way young boys think, the way they dream, the way they deal with reality by ignoring it. So many scenes prompted memories of me and my brother running through the woods behind our parent's home, playing army or cowboys and Indians, or whatever version of hero versus villain had captured our thoughts that week.

A must see for sure.