Writer-director Jeffrey Blitz brings wit and pathos to the story of a compulsive stutterer.
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02/27/08
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Rocket Science (2007)
81
%
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Reviews Counted:31
Fresh:25
Rotten:6
Average Rating:6.9/10
Consensus: Though Rocket Science appears to be a typically quirky indie, the well-rounded performances and director Jeffrey Blitz's clear affection for his characters gives the film its proper human spark.
Theatrical Release:Aug 10, 2007 Limited
Box Office: $601,787
Synopsis: Jeffrey Blitz (2002's SPELLBOUND) directs this comedy that follows in the footsteps of teen outsider indies such DONNIE DARKO, THUMBSUCKER, NAPOLEON DYNAMITE, and RUSHMORE. Set in New Jersey, the... [More]
Starring: Reece Daniel Thompson, Anna Kendrick, Nicholas D'Agosto, Vincent Piazza
Director: Jeffrey Blitz
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Reviews for Rocket Science
Top CriticBlitz continues to make a case for himself as a filmmaker with rich, realistic stories to tell.
09/10/07
Top CriticThe merits of Rocket Science are endlessly debatable, and this is nothing to sneeze at.
08/30/07
Top CriticQuietly written and convincingly played, this coming-of-age story mines its rueful laughs from a thick vein of performance anxiety, in both senses of the term.
08/27/07
Top CriticBorrowing from too many movies to count, Rocket Science botches that brew in an unwieldy slew of adolescent-angst clichés.
08/24/07
Top CriticRocket Science flies beyond the standard teen preoccupations, moving into territory that combines humor and eccentricity with fragile hope and ambition, making for a film that embraces every awkward angle of adolescence.
08/24/07
Top CriticRocket Science is not a revelation on the lines of Thompson's Spellbound, one of the great convergences of luck and the ability to make the most of it. But it does suggest that Blitz and Thompson have futures worth investing in.
08/24/07
Top CriticBuoyed by a script rife with poetry, a handful of dynamic performances and Eef Barzelay's near-perfect score, Rocket Science mildly shames the potty-mouthed Superbad. And I liked Superbad.
08/24/07
Top CriticAll of the acting is first-rate, but Thompson is fantastic. He makes Hal both sympathetic and hilarious, never giving in to self-pity but, in a refreshing take, not above the occasional scream (or cheer).
08/24/07
Top CriticOne of the pleasures of Blitz's film is that it immerses us in the fraught, competitive pressures of the high-school debate world—like Spellbound, it gets the details right.
08/24/07
Top Critic[Director] Blitz has succumbed to that most pernicious of Sundance afflictions: pandemic quirkiness.
08/17/07
Top CriticA smart, funny, unpredictable film...a more accurate reflection of high-school life than is usually portrayed.
08/17/07
Top CriticHonest and surprisingly lucid at its core.
08/17/07
Top CriticIt may gross as little as Welcome to the Dollhouse or as much as Clueless, but whichever it does, it's in the same league.
08/17/07
Top CriticA strong contender to become a student classic.
08/16/07
Top CriticJeffrey Blitz's Rocket Science doesn't quite work but is worth seeing anyway.
08/16/07
Top CriticRocket Science not only feels our collective pain, it makes us laugh wickedly at the memories.
08/16/07
Top CriticI thought it was cloying, self-congratulatory and irritating.
08/14/07
Top CriticSelf-consciously quirky on the outside, this gentle teenage fable has an affecting, openhearted core.
08/10/07
Top CriticRocket Science has the makings of either a tragedy or a crowd-pleasing underdog story, but writer-director Jeffrey Blitz instead takes the movie on a different, and ultimately more rewarding, direction.
08/10/07
Top CriticLatest News for Rocket Science
November 28, 2007:
Spirit Award Nominees Announced
The nominations for this year's Spirit Awards are in -- and Todd Haynes might want to clear some room on his mantle. More...
August 26, 2007:
RT-UK's What to Watch at the Edinburgh Film Festival
Rotten Tomatoes UK heads up north to take in the sights and sounds of the Edinburgh Film Festival. And as the celebration of cinema draws to a close we present what's hot and... More...
August 09, 2007:
Critical Consensus: Rush Hour 3 Runs On Fumes; Stardust Shines; Daddy Day Camp Is Laugh-Free
This week at the movies, we've got wacky cops (Rush Hour 3, starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker), fairy tales (Stardust, starring Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer), the... More...
June 20, 2007:
Trailer & Poster review 
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