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Rocket Science
EMAILPRINTPicturehouse Entertainment

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 28 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 18 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy | Drama
Written by: Jeffrey Blitz
Directed by: Jeffrey Blitz
Release Date:
Theatrical: August 10, 2007
DVD: January 29, 2008
Running Time: 101 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
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)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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).
Read Full Review >Premiere Stephen Saito
As fate would have it, Rocket Science might prove to be the handiwork of a burgeoning cinematic genius.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
When it's not opting for whimsy, Rocket Science makes you cringe, which is what's good about it.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
Blitz captures high school atmosphere well – not an easy thing to do – but overall the movie coasts on quirkiness.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Variety Justin Chang
This unusually voluble comedy is as eloquent about love, self-realization and adolescent angst as its protagonist is endearingly tongue-tied.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
A well-meaning little picture that's piercingly genuine in places and annoyingly affected in others.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Jim Ridley
Once Rocket Science enters the realm of the debate competition, the director's eye for detail never deserts him.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
For all its flashes of emotional honesty and mordant humor, is nonsense at its core.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
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.
