Now Playing
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

38 12 Rounds
48 17 Again
76 Adventureland
48 Angels & Demons
54 Battle for Terra
xx Bruno
80 Coraline
40 Dance Flick
83 Drag Me to Hell
72 Earth
45 Fast & Furious
61 Fighting
34 Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
72 Gran Torino
73 Hangover, The
47 Hannah Montana: The Movie
51 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
54 Imagine That
41 Knowing
32 Land of the Lost
56 Monsters vs. Aliens
34 My Life in Ruins
51 My Sister's Keeper
46 Next Day Air
42 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
54 Observe and Report
25 Obsessed
48 Proposal, The
70 Public Enemies
61 Soloist, The
83 Star Trek
64 State of Play
55 Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, The
52 Terminator Salvation
35 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
77 Under the Sea 3D
88 Up
43 X-Men Origins: Wolverine
34 Year One

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

sort by name

sort by score

67 $9.99
75 24 City
66 Adoration
74 Afghan Star
48 Alien Trespass
56 American Violet
82 Anvil! The Story of Anvil
57 Away We Go
81 Beaches of Agnes, The
62 Big Man Japan
28 Big Shot-Caller, The
78 Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55 Brothers Bloom, The
82 Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
xx Call of the Wild
63 Cheri
62 Cherry Blossoms
63 Dead Snow
65 Departures
18 Downloading Nancy
58 Easy Virtue
70 End of the Line, The
77 Every Little Step
64 Examined Life
80 Food, Inc.
38 Gigantic
56 Girl from Monaco, The
67 Girlfriend Experience, The
87 Gomorrah
89 Goodbye Solo
63 Great Buck Howard, The
79 Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx Home
82 Hunger
91 Hurt Locker, The
16 I Hate Valentine's Day
81 Il Divo
54 Is Anybody There?
71 Jerichow
58 Julia
74 Lemon Tree
36 Life is Hot in Cracktown
40 Limits of Control, The
42 Little Ashes
64 Lymelife
50 Management
57 Merry Gentleman, The
66 Moon
35 New York
62 Not Forgotten
xx Offshore
78 O'Horten
64 Outrage
40 Paris 36
54 Pontypool
71 Pressure Cooker
52 Quiet Chaos
83 Revanche
67 Rudo y Cursi
86 Seraphine
65 Sex Positive
70 Shall We Kiss?
77 Sin Nombre
59 Sleep Dealer
74 Song of Sparrows, The
54 Stoning of Soraya M., The
82 Sugar
84 Summer Hours
61 Sunshine Cleaning
28 Surveillance
42 Tennessee
63 Tetro
64 Throw Down Your Heart
80 Tokyo Sonata
63 Tokyo!
70 Tony Manero
74 Treeless Mountain
88 Tulpan
74 Two Lovers
83 Tyson
83 U2 3D
60 Under Our Skin
69 Unmistaken Child
69 Valentino: The Last Emperor
22 What Goes Up
45 Whatever Works
57 Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Rocket Science
Picturehouse Entertainment


6.5

based on 28 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 18 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: R for some sexual content and language

Starring Anna Kendrick, Reece Thompson, Dionne Audain, Utkarsh Ambudkar, John Patrick Barry, Lisbeth Bartlett, Jeanette Brox, and Jen Carden

A teenager tackles the mysteries of life, love and public speaking in Rocket Science, a wry comedy of adolescent angst. Life is not easy for teenager Hal Hefner. His parents have split, his older brother is an obsessive-compulsive and he has an unpredictable stutter. Given that his active mind and quick wit tend to be obscured by his problematic voice, Hal is not an obvious candidate for his school's high-powered debate team. So when the star of debate team, Ginny Ryerson, asks him to be her partner, Hal rises to the occasion, and in doing so he scores a victory that has nothing to do with winning a debate, but everything to do with finding his voice. (Picturehouse Entertainment)

GENRE(S):	Comedy \| Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Jeffrey Blitz
DIRECTED BY:	Jeffrey Blitz
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: January 29, 2008 Theatrical: August 10, 2007
RUNNING TIME:	101 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

A dry, vicious and deeply moving little comedy that sort of takes the structure of a teen sports movie, then undermines that structure at every turn.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Fresh, funny and unfailingly observant, Rocket Science is a mood-swinging movie about adolescence that lifts audiences' spirits even when its hero is down in the dumps.

Film Threat Zack Haddad

This is one of those films that will either hit it big as an indie crossover like "Little Miss Sunshine,” or just make some money and become a film nerd favorite. Either way I recommend you don’t miss this awkwardly fun gem.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Teenage angst and adolescent agony are the stuff of sharp, observant comedy this quirky, wonderfully dry first fiction feature from documentary filmmaker Jeffrey Blitz (Spellbound).

Premiere Stephen Saito

As fate would have it, Rocket Science might prove to be the handiwork of a burgeoning cinematic genius.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jennie Punter

The movies have given us plenty of loquacious teenagers – from such fast-talking truants as Ferris Bueller to such overachieving political animals as Tracy Flick ( Election). Hal Hefner is not one of these kids.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

I suspect a lot of high school students will recognize elements of real life in the movie, and that the movie will build a following. It may gross as little as "Welcome to the Dollhouse" or as much as "Clueless," but whichever it does, it's in the same league.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak

An odd charmer with a whisper of autobiography (Blitz makes his film's protagonist a stutterer, just as the director was in school) and it's made even better by young lead actor Reece Thompson.

Austin Chronicle Toddy Burton

There is one absolutely inspired scene in Rocket Science, and for this scene alone, it’s pretty much worth the price of admission. It occurs when our hero, Hal (Thompson), an occasionally incoherent teenage stutterer delivers his opening remarks during a high school debate.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

When it's not opting for whimsy, Rocket Science makes you cringe, which is what's good about it.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Rocket Science doesn't go too far into Todd Solondz-style mockery, either; though painful to witness at times, Thompson's determination to face his fears--not just of speaking, but of girls, too--is heartbreakingly noble and courageous.

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub

Rocket Science has the makings of either a tragedy or a crowd-pleasing underdog story, but writer-director Jeffrey Blitz instead takes the movie on a different, and ultimately more rewarding, direction.

USA Today Claudia Puig

It is smart, witty and blessedly unpredictable.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

A quirky comedy-drama that gets the bulk of its humor from the well-placed non sequitur. It never seems to be going where you think it is, and that includes its oddly endearing dialogue.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

To his credit, Blitz throws in an unexpected twist that delivers a more ambivalent ending than your typical sports movie.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Blitz captures high school atmosphere well – not an easy thing to do – but overall the movie coasts on quirkiness.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Blitz captures the melancholy, the rage, the wackiness and drama of adolescence, and he gets winning performances out of his young stars.

The Hollywood Reporter Duane Byrge

Catapulted by an endearing lead performance by Reece Daniel Thompson as a stuttering high-school student, Rocket Science transcends the predictable high-school yarn and arcs into usually unexplored domains of self-discovery and personal growth in a coming-of-age film.

Variety Justin Chang

This unusually voluble comedy is as eloquent about love, self-realization and adolescent angst as its protagonist is endearingly tongue-tied.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

The surest sign of the movie’s integrity is that it resists any temptation to build the story to a climactic debate.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

A well-meaning little picture that's piercingly genuine in places and annoyingly affected in others.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Jeffrey Blitz's smart, deceptively lighthearted movie gives audiences an endearing nerd-messiah to revisit that angst for all of us and -- maybe, just maybe -- he'll end up in love and ahead.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Quietly written and convincingly played, this coming-of-age story mines its rueful laughs from a thick vein of performance anxiety, in both senses of the term.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Doesn't quite work but is worth seeing anyway.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The problem with Rocket Science is that the character at the center of the drama isn't very energetic or, truth be told, interesting. This makes it difficult at times to remain engaged in the unfolding tale.

Village Voice Jim Ridley

Once Rocket Science enters the realm of the debate competition, the director's eye for detail never deserts him.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

One of those terminally annoying, depressive-yet-coy Sundance faves in which the tale of a mopey teen misfit unfolds behind a hard candy shell of irony.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

For all its flashes of emotional honesty and mordant humor, is nonsense at its core.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.5 (out of 10) based on 18 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

John S. gave it a3:
Poor, boring.

Sean F. gave it an8:
Very cool high school film! Reminded me of Election or Rushmore or films of that type. A comedy, but very dramatic and dark. Lots of twists and turns, and surprises. One of the most original movies I've seen in some time.

Chad S. gave it a9:
Corey Haim in "Lucas" is not the same animal as Corey Haim in "License to Drive", or Corey Haim in "Snowboard Academy". The former-child star was startingly good as a dorky fourteen-year-old misfit in the 1986 coming-of-age film. "Rocket Science" is more like "Lucas" than "Rushmore", "Welcome to the Dollhouse", and other usual suspects from indie-dom that showcases the trials and tribulations of a socially-challenged minor. Lucas didn't get the girl. Lucas didn't catch the football. "Lucas", a studio film, mind you, didn't swing for the fences; it settled for a modest single up the middle. "Rocket Science" is just like that. Like Lucas, Hal Hefner(Reece Thompson) raises his arms in celebration after a miniature victory. This is, by far, a more satisfying end-result than the more conventional ending that "Rocket Science" teases the audience with, before judiciously pulling back and allowing pragmatic deftness back into the story. You can thank the filmmaker's background in documentaries. The stutterer can't win a statewide debating tournament; the filmmaker knows this, but like any person with a handicap, the stutterer can win some self-respect by being unafraid. "Rocket Science" is...is...is...tr-...tr-...tri-..tri-...-um...-um...trium-...-um...-um...-phant.

Graham G. gave it a0:
There is so little that is not annoying about this movie. I want my time back. Occasionally the stutterer says something witty, but seemingly can't think his way out of uber-typical situations. And at the end there's nothing satisfying at all. Just like life. And if I just wanted life, I wouldn't go to the movies. I walked out when the 'I love the unknown' single-lyric song kicked in. A grownup can only take so much.

Pat W. gave it a0:
Absolutely one of the worst teenage films I've seen in my life...can't believe they're still showing it here, terrible!!

Nora O. gave it a10:
Excellent film. The film made me laugh and cry. Reflecting on my my teen years as a stutterer, I am not sure how I would have responded seeing the film due to my dark denial and rage towards my stutter. However, if the cards had fallen differently and I had ended up in the theatre I would have been able to see myself on screen and not have felt so damn alone. Hal is a very likable teenager. I'd hang out with him! He's a good kid, seeking love, living in a dysfunctional family, very witty, very funny, bright and with wild, passionate, greatness waiting to burst out. This is the first MOVIE (not documentary) that portrays stuttering accurately. Unlike A Fish Called Wanda or Primal Fear and so many other films that ridicule the stutterer or the character is a murderer (Primal Fear). The same that gay characters were portrayed in movies. The movie is not just about stuttering though. Hal is so much more then his stutter. As is the movie. I'm sorry it's moved out of theatres so quickly. Probably because of poor reviews like the one in the NY Times ... clearly the reviewer did not understand the film or care to understand it.

Rocket Science Picturehouse Entertainment

Rocket Science
Picturehouse Entertainment