Strikes perfect balance between laughter and tears

6:50am Saturday 16th August 2008

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SON Of Rambow (Cert 12, 91 mins, Optimum Home Entertainment, Comedy/Drama, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99) Starring: Bill Milner, Will Poulter, Jessica Hynes, Ed Westwick, Jules Sitruk, Neil Dudgeon.

Will Proudfoot (Milner) is an outcast. His mother, Mary (Hynes), is a member of the Plymouth Brethren, which forbids Will from corruptive influences like film, television and the radio. Consequently, the youngster retreats from his classmates into his sketchbook, where he conjures up imaginary worlds.

At school, Will meets troublemaker Lee Carter (Poulter), who has been abandoned by his parents and lives with his older brother Lawrence (Westwick).

The boys spend the afternoon together, during which Will watches a pirate copy of Rambo: First Blood.

Inspired to imitate Stallone's muscle-bound killing machine, Will agrees to perform death-defying stunts in Lee's home movie, which they hope to enter in a national competition.

Tensions flare when French exchange student Didier (Sitruk) tries to muscle in on the lead role, driving a wedge between best buddies Lee and Will.

Son Of Rambow is a delightful coming of age story harking back to the glory days of the '80s.

Garth Jennings' film is irresistibly charming, blessed with compelling lead performances from the two youngsters: Milner the heartbreakingly vulnerable dreamer, Poulter the cheeky rapscallion.

The boys' filmmaking escapades are hilarious including some potentially lethal stunt work with a rickety seesaw contraption to catapult Will over a bale of hay.

The script strikes a perfect balance between laughter and tears building to a deeply moving finale that warms the cockles of your nostalgic heart.

An eclectic soundtrack of the era is note perfect, underscored by a hilarious line-dancing scene in the sixth form common room that will remind an entire generation (somewhat shamefacedly) of a decade that fashion sense forgot.

DVD Extras: Director, producer and actors commentary, "Making Of" featurette, cast interviews, Son Of Rambow competition winner, Garth Jennings short film "Aron", Geography Lesson.

Rating: Four out of five.

Deception (Cert 15, 104 mins, Entertainment In Video, Thriller/Romance) Starring: Ewan McGregor, Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams, Natasha Henstridge, Charlotte Rampling.

Corporate auditor Jonathan McQuarry (McGregor) is a loner with a passion for order and symmetry.

A chance encounter with suave corporate lawyer Wyatt Bose (Jackman) introduces the auditor to "The List": an anonymous sex club for busy professionals, no strings attached.

Jonathan's first date with a blonde beauty (Henstridge) goes well but when he dares to initiate a liaison with a second stranger, muttering the password ("Are you free tonight?"), his inexperience shows.

Seduced by this secret world of sexual fulfillment, Jonathan falls under the spell of the enigmatic S (Williams). A liaison in a Chinatown hotel culminates in bloodshed and Jonathan wanders blindly into the trap of a psychopath who would gladly take a knife to S's throat.

Deception coasts along on a wave of improbabilities and slow motion sex scenes, without any injections of pace from first-time feature director Marcel Langenegger.

Screenwriter Mark Bomback signposts every twist and turn so clearly - both verbally and visually - that you would have to doze through the opening hour for the film to maintain the element of surprise.

An explosive 'accident' makes no sense at all, in terms of execution and its consequences, and Jonathan's discovery of key facts hinges on a chance telephone call which ignores the rules of "The List".

McGregor isn't stretched as a disconnected soul with a penchant for baggy y-fronts, and his American accent wavers noticeably in scenes with a svelte Jackman.

Williams makes the biggest impact, teasing out the ambiguities in her classically blonde femme fatale, who isn't nearly as steely and detached as she pretends.

DVD Extras: none stated.

Rating: Two out of five.