ROCKET SCIENCE
Year: 2007
USA: Picturehouse
UK: Optimum Releasing
Cast: Reece Daniel Thompson, Anna Kendrick, Nicholas D'Agosto, Vincent Piazza, Margo Martindale, Aaron Yoo, Josh Kay, Stephen Park, Maury Ginsberg, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Denis O'Hare, Lisbeth Bartlett, Candace Burr Scholz, Virginia Frank, Marilyn Yoblick, Emily Ginnona, Dionne Audain, Dan DeLuca, Michael Kusnir, John Patrick Barry, Jane Beard, Herb Merrick, Carol A Florence, Jonah Hill, Betsy Hogg, Brandon Thane Wilson, Zack Arrington, Jaime Chicas, Katrina Hargrave, Erin Loube, Natasha Sattlerwill, Shaw, Jeffrey Wei, David Deboy, Andrew Collie, Huong Huyah, Katherine Ross Wolfe, Susan "Tootsie" Duvall, Elisabeth Noone, Noah Mazaika, Will Parquette, Tara Richter-Smith, Judy Jean Berns, Jeanette Brox, Roland Branford Gomez, Lee Sellars, Joel Marsh Garland, Dan Cashman
Director: Jeffrey Blitz
Country: USA
USA & UK: 98 mins
USA Rated: R for some sexual content and language
UK Certificate: 15 contains strong language and moderate sex references
USA Release Date: 10 August 2007 (Limited Release - New York and Los Angeles)
UK Release Date: 28 September 2007 (Limited Release)
Synopsis
Directed by Jeffrey Blitz (SPELLBOUND) in his feature narrative debut, ROCKET SCIENCE is a wry comedy of teenage angst where a teenager Hal Hefner (Reece Daniel Thompson) tackles the mysteries of life, love and public speaking.
Life is not easy for teenager Hal Hefner (Reece Daniel Thompson) of suburban Plainsboro, New Jersey. His parents, Juliet (Lisbeth Bartlett) and Doyle (Denis O'Hare), have unexpectedly split up, his older brother, Earl (Vincent Piazza) is a budding obsessive-compulsive who pushes him around constantly and he has an unpredictable stutter that makes high school an exercise in embarrassment, self-effacement and terrible lunches. While Earl sets out to conquer the world through a combination of assiduous planning, an intimidating demeanour and habitual theft, Hal remains well in the background at Plainsboro High.
Thus Hal is not an obvious candidate for his school's high-powered debate team until surprisingly the team's star member, the hyper-articulate Ginny Ryerson (Anna Kendrick), approaches Hal on the school bus one afternoon. The Plainsboro debaters need a replacement for Ginny's former partner, the brilliant Ben Wekselbaum (Nicholas D'Agosto), who dropped out of school following a calamitous performance at the New Jersey State High School Policy Debate Championships the previous spring. Ginny has seen Hal's potential while Hal is more than just shocked, or even dazed - he is smitten.
Hal joins the Plainsboro High debate team as Ginny's partner. He treks back and forth to her house with his ever-growing pile of research and Hal starts to see new possibilities in his life. Perhaps he can tame his balky voice and become a master of rhetoric. Perhaps he can succeed in love and win Ginny's heart...