'Rocket Science' a formula for success
By Nick Knittel, Staff Writer
October 26, 2007 | 2 p.m.
The quirky, coming-of-age story has been an indie staple for so long that it’s practically a genre of its own. “Rocket Science,” with strong direction and performances from its unknown leads, admirably tries to break the mold, mostly with success.
“Rocket Science” opens beautifully with two contrasting scenes: the final round of the New Jersey State Debate Competition, where Ginny (Anna Kendrick) and her partner Ben (Nicholas D’Agosto) seem poised to mercilessly slaughter their opponents in a farm subsidiary argument for the first prize trophy; and Hal (Reece Daniel Thompson), a shy stuttering boy who watches with his older brother Earl (Vincent Piazza) as his father and mother split up in the middle of their living room. Immediately, the characters are established (helped by the soothing narrative voice of Dan Cashman), as is the main theme of the movie: how to find your voice.
At the debate final, Ben loses his voice at the peak of his argument, causing the team to lose and forcing him to leave school out of anger and frustration. Ginny, hurt by the loss, is desperate to make it to state competition again but needs a partner. She finds Hal and his speech problem to be nothing more than a gift. “Deformed people are the best,” she states matter-of-factly as she pursues him. “Maybe it’s because they have a deep well of anger to tap into.” Hal, struck by her the beauty and vivaciousness, immediately agrees, and so begins the awkward steps of someone who has no idea what he’s getting himself into.
Things don’t quite work out, to put it lightly. Ginny transfers schools, finds another man and prepares for the debate by herself, leaving Hal to flounder in his own stuttering misery without any idea of what to do. Maybe because of that and a sense of revenge constructed by Ginny, Hal seeks out Ben and brings him back into the debate world in order to win a trophy of his own
Categorizing “Rocket Science” as comedy is an easy mistake. The plot is amusing and so is the trailer, but it seems like the studio didn’t really know how to market it. The trailer is a mishmash of out-of-context scenes that break with a punch line but lack the emotional vigor that director Jeffrey Blitz seems confident to wield within the full picture, thus giving the film a strange brew of deadpan jokes with drama in unequal portions.
This is not to say that it doesn’t work or is “bad” for one reason or another, but to someone expecting a laugh riot, the dark scene in which Hal gets trashed on a bottle of Jim Beam stolen from his brother and proceeds to throw a cello through Ginny’s window seems unusually jarring. In fact, any scene that features Earl has such pronounced cruelty that it’s hard to see the light, and the audience may feel like licking its wounds in the janitors’ closet like Hal.
Director Jeffrey Blitz’s first feature film was 2002’s amazing “Spellbound,” the Academy Award nominee for best documentary that follows a number of young teenagers on their quest to win the National Spelling Bee. Both “Spellbound” and “Rocket Science” paint the subjects of spelling bees and debates as vicious cage fights in which victory is the only option, and failure is worse than death. Blitz brings the same techniques from the documentary realm to fiction, allowing him to show unpronounced candor with the actors and the startling personalities that they throw on screen.
The actors are mostly unknowns or relatively unrecognizable with the exception of Nick D’Agosto, who had a recent stint on “Heroes.” Anna Kendrick really stands out for her portrayal of Ginny by injecting a blood thirst and sharp edge to the character, thus making the idea of facing off in a classroom a terrifying ordeal. Reece Daniel Thompson is great as Hal, bringing the personality to life without overdoing the stutter or the obvious emotional baggage.
“Rocket Science” also shares an enormous similarity with 2005’s “Thumbsucker,” another unusual indie film about a teen who sucks his thumb and decides to join a debate team. “Thumbsucker” is enjoyable for many of the same reasons as “Rocket Science” but misses on some of the emotional levels. Despite some of the shortcomings in tone and the usual indie “uniqueness,” Blitz knows how to handle the material and the actors with a finesse and concern that seems to be lost among other films.
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Speakeasy Rating: A-
Running Time: 98 minutes
MPAA Rating: R for some sexual content and language
Genre: Drama/Comedy