Meet Will (Bill Milner) — the young son of a widowed woman who is a member of an Amish-like religious sect called “The Brethren.” Now meet Lee (Will Poulter) — scorned bully, basically orphaned, who spends his time making and selling bootleg videos, harassing the elderly and shooting a screen test for an upcoming film competition. Will and Lee are blood brothers — or at least they come to be throughout the course of the adorable British movie “Son of Rambow.”

Despite the wholesome, loveable plot, the film reeks of amateurism. “Son of Rambow,” written and directed by Garth Jennings, loses its way not with story but with production quality and delivery. At times, the movie seems as if it’s been hastily put together. Rather than a unified whole that flows smoothly from one scene to the next, the film seems like a collection of scenes shoddily placed one after the other. It’s a shame because bad production is like bad writing: The audience loses much of the wonderful content when the task is executed poorly.

The less-than-perfect delivery doesn’t ruin the film, though. Besides, any movie in which the star uses the Bible as his coloring/sketch book can do very little wrong. “Son of Rambow” makes up for its amateurism in many other ways. For example, instead of injecting fake quirkiness into itself like its beloved art film relative “Juno” (does anyone still drink Sunny Delight?), the movie stays very genuine. One never doubts that these are real people and real families.

This is particularly true in the case of the film’s young actors, who brought a realness and depth to the roles rarely seen from child actors. While one would think Milner might get caught up overplaying the sweetness of Will, he manages to avoid sappiness and actually angers the audience at times (as he is supposed to). And although Poulter sometimes struggles with the emotional scenes (which could be a failure of the script), he is for the most part very convincing. He is very funny (though a little off on timing), and he fully embodies the 12-year-old bully that actually has a heart of gold.

Sure, “Son of Rambow” dips more than once into the realm of the pretty unbelievable, but you find yourself saying, “It could happen...”

For example, for a reason not addressed in the film, Will’s mother somehow finds it fit to send him to the local, public school despite her fundamentalist religious beliefs. Maybe the audience could buy that. Surprisingly, Will gets along fine. He must simply remember to let himself out of the classroom when the teachers decide to show an educational film (he is not allowed to watch television). No real trouble comes his way until the bully Lee singles him out as his next victim. One absurd event after another, and Will finds himself in the garage of Lee’s house watching the violent, machine-gun movie “First Blood” — starring Sylvester Stallone as the war hero Rambo.

Will is inspired. The highly imaginative boy creates a new life for himself free from the restrictions of his religious home. He writes and illustrates his imaginings in comic book form and declares his work as well as himself “Son of Rambo.” Lee and Will team up together to film the story, but after a number of hi-jinks, broken bones, bad ‘80s haircuts — it becomes clear that this movie is more than a film within a film. It’s a film about bonding and stuff. And love. These themes lend themselves well to a number of great friendship montages.

Friendship montages can’t hold a film together, though. “Son of Rambow” begins to lose its direction toward its center. The plot begins to drag and many scenes entirely irrelevant. It’s as if Jennings had a great idea but wasn’t really sure where to go with it.

Enter “Didier” — a French exchange student who manages to garner a cult following at Will and Lee’s school, because let’s face it, that’s what the French do. He, as well as his posse, decides to join in on the fun of shooting the film. But with the Frenchman comes trouble (surprise, surprise). Soon, Will and Lee’s idyllic friendship is put to the test.

At times, Didier’s role seems nothing more than a way to add unnecessary conflict to the already tumultuous plot. Instead, he becomes a dragging force that further slows the pace of the movie. That said, he does seem rather important to the movie, if only for the reason that he is absolutely hilarious and colorful.

This film isn’t perfect. In fact, it’s not much better than just “pretty good,” a 3 1⁄2 out of 5 stars. But it’s funky — funky and original. Furthermore, it manages to achieve this funkiness without being pretentious or unconvincing. Many indie art films have the appearance of trying too hard. “Son of Rambow” doesn’t try at all. It is simply fun and imaginative, the way films should be. It makes you smile and laugh and also sometimes sad. But ultimately, it just makes you feel good and reminds you not to take life too seriously.