Review of Rocket Science (2007) by Danielle S — 21 Dec 2008

Hal Hefner: "That's god doing your dry cleaning. He does dry cleaning. He wears a smock.".

A young high school student named Ben Wekselbaum (Nicolas D'Agosto) steps up to the podium. It's a big high school debate, a large audience watching in great anticipation. He's a master of debate; he can convince anyone of anything at a speed of hundreds of words per minute. Ben launches into his opening statement, and his team partner Ginny (Anna Kendrick, Camp) watches with confident pleasure. Ben is doing brilliantly, and she's just waiting to step in and seal the deal. Suddenly, unexpectedly, Ben's words slow to a crawl, and then he stops completely. Hal Hefner (Reece Thompson). Hal is an intelligent student who has a stuttering problem; attempting to tell the lunch lady that he would like a slice of pizza is a daily struggle. Ginny cavalierly informs Hal that students with disabilities make the best debate partners, because they have something to be angry about.

Earl Hefner: "Mommy, Mommy! Hal's freaking out in the garage! This is gonna turn out bad, I can feel it.".

Rocket Science lives on the ebb-and-flow of high school humiliation. Where Blitz's film trips you up is in the director's compelling restraint and his ability to earn small victories rather than grasping at large ones. His script is impeccably written, with a literate and insightful unseen narrator (voice of Dan Cashman) providing commentary that makes the film feel like a novel. His characters are charming without stuffing them full of quirks. The sweet performances by Reece Thompson as fumbling, eager Hal and Anna Kendrick as the force-of-nature Ginny are honest and funny and believable. The movie never becomes outrageous or in-your-face, but those minor things add up after a while. However it's ultimately impossible not to connect with Hal's efforts at reinventing himself. The film recalls the first three movies by Wes Anderson in giving us eccentric literary characters who, despite living in a bland, nondescript suburban New Jersey environment, are anything but ordinary.