It Ain't... Oh Wait, It IS!

Some film subjects never get old. A fresh take on adolescence is certainly one of them. It's a time so ripe with drama that I think one can instantly garner sympathy for a character when the topic is treated right. Rocket Science treats the subject very right.

Ladies go crazy for a sharp-dressed man.

Compounding his problems his oft-stealing older brother Earl harasses Hal constantly and inexplicably refers to him by various girls' names. It all seems to change one day when Ginny, the school's debate champion (following a meltdown by the previous school legend the year prior), attempts to convince Hal that he belongs on the school's debate team.

Jeffery Blitz writes and directs with such a sure hand that it's hard to imagine this being his first narrative feature after an auspicious debut with the Oscar Nominated documentary Spellbound.

His talent with the actors also belies any inexperience, as each actor delivers clever and more importantly realistic performances. The writing helps foster quirky and scene-stealing performances by Thompson as Hal, Anna Kendrick as Ginny, and especially Aaron Yoo as Heston.

The high-school outcast who gets a chance to shine is a well-worn genre to be sure but Rocket Science doesn't let our hero off so easily on his journey to find ‘when it all will make sense' which keeps the film consistently entertaining and heartwarming.

As a comedy it delivers plenty of humor without overdoing its quirky quotient to the point of annoyance.

I can see mainstream audiences connecting to the film because it doesn't stray too far away from the way it really can be when you're young and out of place and a vibrant clever soundtrack with the best use of The Violent Femmes music that I can remember won't hurt it a bit.

Martin Kelley is Editor-in-Chief of CinemATL.com. He's also a local screenwriter and filmmaker who co-founded the Atlanta Screenwriters Group, one of the largest screenwriting organizations in the Southeast.