In an attempt to tell the story of a teenager's struggle with a stammer, Rocket Science 'œnever quite spits out what it has to say,' said Owen Gleiberman in Entertainment Weekly. Jeffrey Blitz, who directed the charming documentary Spellbound, shifts to feature films with the semi-autobiographical tale of Hal Hefner (Reece Daniel Thompson). Hefner suffers from a speech impediment, as Blitz once did, and sees joining the debate team as a cure. But where Blitz succeeded (he became president and won the New Jersey State Championship), his fictional alter ego goes nowhere. Rocket Science is 'œpiercingly genuine in places and annoyingly affected in others,' said Stephanie Zacharek in Salon.com. Blitz captures the purgatory known as high school with a sincere yet unsentimental tone, but frames the story with an 'œunnecessary and pretentious' voice-over. Though he may not trust his audience, he certainly believes in his actors. Blitz's characters are wonderfully weird and real, said David Ansen in Newsweek. They're brought to life by a terrific team of unknowns, with Thompson as captain of the oddballs. These are kids we all have known, 'œfrom the pathetically awkward to the brazenly self-assured, from the nastily scheming to the hopelessly geeky.' It's obvious that Blitz relates to and feels for his characters, and you can't help but do the same.
Rating: R
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