Unashamedly 'indie' in his approach, screenwriter/director Jeffrey Blitz wowed festival goers with his neatly formed gem sprung from unexploited fields. Well, ok, teenage angst is hardly unexploited, yet seen through the eyes of a stuttering youth besotted with his school's forceful debating champ is land relatively untilled. Pushed through Blitz's unique lens, Rocket Science is fresh fare indeed.
The youth is Hal Hefner, a thin, nervous kid permanently at war with his wayward mouth, his wayward brother and, frankly, his wayward life. Life skips a beat when Ginny (Anna Kendrick, Up In The Air) convinces him to join the school debating team. Blinded to reality and his own ability, Hal readily accepts. As speech therapy continues to fail him, he stutters relentlessly forward, unaware that Ginny might have motivation of her own.
Some five years passed between Blitz's stunning debut (Spellbound, an award winning documentary about spelling bees) and Rocket Science. An unlikely yet appealing confluence of interests that in some back-of-mind fashion makes his dramatic debut all the more interesting. After all, amid an endless avalanche of teen-movies, there are precious few that quietly applaud cerebral challenges over slutty cheerleaders. You can count on one hand those that involve debating teams.
Rocket Science goes to some lengths to earn its indie badge as if being this self-aware increases credibility, or at the very least keeps audiences thoughtfully off balance. Which it does. Undermining expectation of narrative and structure at every turn, the story swings and rolls like the best fair ground ride and this despite the central character's dull determination. Hal is not particularly interesting and that, of course, is the point.
This should have been a Juno sized hit, rather than languish three years before a nervous distributor took the plunge locally. (Blitz subsequently worked on The Office before returning to documentaries, suggesting some degree of personal disappointment). But be glad they did - Rocket Science is a savage, heartfelt comedy of the first order that deserves an audience. This means you.
// COLIN FRASER
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