Probably the most psychological correct movie I have ever seen about being a teenager. In the same vein as Rushmore and Napoleon Dynamite, Rocket Science is a brilliant comedy about how absurd normal life can be. What many people do in this situation is to go off into fantasy. Fantasy about sex, violence or social success becomes the genesis of high school clicks. If you stay grounded then you probably don’t fit in.
Rocket Science is a delightful film and it is as hilarious as it is charming.
Meet Hal Hefner. He is a freshman in High School in New Jersey. If that wasn’t worse enough, he has an unpredictable stuttering problem. His parents are getting divorce and his older brother picks on him. He doesn’t really talk to people, because he can’t get the words out. He is basically surviving. He is probably not the best pick to be the captain of the debate team.
In fact, that guy had a breakdown in the state championship, and was never seen again.
Hal, a guy just trying to get through a day, is recruited by strong willed and beautiful, at least to him, older girl who is co-captain of the debate club. She tells him that he could be the best at debate, because she feels that he has a deep seeded anger due to his stuttering.
He is not interested, at first, but he is interested in the girl.
She planted a seed or connected to a wish to he has, which is to be able to effectively speak to people.
This is the premise of the film. High School debate seems like another interesting esoteric topic like crossword puzzles or child beauty contests from movies like Little Miss Sunshine and Wordplay, and it is.
I was speaking with a speech therapist about this movie and she said that actor, Reece Thompson, did such a good job in portraying a person with a speech problem that she wondered if he really did have one, because all of the little details are there.
The movie is filled with many sad but true scenes of growing up. There is a scene when his parents are fighting and his father is leaving the family. Hal pets his dog for comfort. It’s poignant and common for so many kids from homes where there is too much fighting. It is those kind of details that gives away how autobiographical this film is, even if all the plot points may not.
Like Napoleon Dynamite, it doesn’t really give away the era it was suppose to be set in. The cast looked like they were wearing the latest Urban Outfitters styles. Of course that could have 70’s, 80’s or even 90’s. I remember that this was a topic of debate (no pun) with Napoleon Dynamite - when was it? I found that you can tell by looking at the technology. In this movie, there are no cell phones, Internet, and the only computer is an Apple IIc – so let’s say the movie is set in the mid-eighties.
For a slightly abused introverted boy with a speech problem, the only kind of girl he would truly fall for would be an overly aggressive, talkative bitch, who tries to shake him up. Her idea that he would have a huge reserve of anger is right in-line with Freud’s view that stuttering is caused by repressed anger.
Adults have flings, sensitive teenage boys have reactions to attraction like atoms being smashed. For the viewer in this movie, it is damn funny.
Throughout the film, each scene draws its humor out of truly sad, yet typical situations. Sometimes, the film hits too close to the mark. Everyone I have talk to about this film, related to it, and it did not matter if they were male or female. In the audience, laughs came about every five seconds.
You really started to care about Hal, and wonder if he will survive high school. Towards the end of the film, you realize that he is going to be OK. In context everything you have just watched it is highly satisfying.
Rocket Science is written and directed by Jeffrey Blitz, and stars Reece Thompson, Anna Kendrick , Nicholas D’Agosto, and Vincent Piazza. It is one of those movies that uses music really really well. The soundtrack has two Violent Femme’s songs , Blister in the Sun and Kiss Off. If you are familiar with “Kiss Off”, then you will really appreciate the Hal’s freak out scene that is set to that song. It was an excellent piece of filmmaking.
Rocket Science is the funniest film I have seen all year, and I can’t wait to own it.
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