ROCKET SCIENCE

There's a problem that I have with a lot of Indie movies these days, particularly those that come out of the Sundance Film Festival and I think ROCKET SCIENCE is a perfect example of it. What am I talking about exactly? I'm talking about that irritating and knowing self-consciousness that you can smell within every frame of celluloid. You know the kind I mean. NAPOLEON DYNAMITE did it. GARDEN STATE too. Where a movie tries so hard to be wacky, tries so hard to be different and aim for that elusive cult crowd that it forgets it actually has to deliver a funny movie with interesting characters before it can earn such a status. ROCKET SCIENCE is a movie so up it's own ass, so self-loving and so annoyingly "quirky" that it's an easy film to dislike, even easier to get irritated with and impossible to avoid getting angry at. Well to be honest, it ain't that bad but I'm just sick of movies that are so aware of themselves that they become hard to like. This is not a good film.

Written and directed by the guy who brought us the sleeper hit SPELLBOUND, an acclaimed documentary about a spelling bee competition which was ironically rejected at Sundance some years back, ROCKET SCIENCE has a similar theme (fictional this time, though it's said to be part auto-biographical) which looks at the competitive world of high school debating, in particular the impossible story of how a kid who can barely speak five words in public is blinded by the attention from a pretty and confident girl that convinces him that he can become a fast-talker and a valuable member of a debate team. Hal Hefner's (impressively played by Reece Thompson) his name, a loner kid who stutters his way through life unable to even order a pizza at lunch let alone talk to girls and answer questions in class. It's not that he's stupid, he knows his stuff it's just he has a condition where he can't get out his words, leading to extended awkward moments of silence. It's pretty painful to see such a bright kid unable to get anywhere in life because of this heightened shyness and you really feel the pain for him and how difficult his life must be. When the film works, you do find yourself laughing in that guilty way you do when you watch David Brent or Michael Scott in The Office. His lust for debater Ginny (Anna Kendrick) after she gives him just an ounce of attention sends him on a coming of age journey that will change his life forever and he's determined to be successful at becoming a debater though we have to wonder if he's out of his mind. It's kinda like a guy who can't drive a car, deciding to suddenly attempt to drive a tank! On a comedy basis, ROCKET SCIENCE does deliver a few snickers and smiles and if it had been a genuine romantic comedy/drama about a guy overcoming his social problem I think I might have liked it a little more but instead it's trying to imitate much better movies like ELECTION and RUSHMORE but it feels ten years too late to be worthwhile. There's no interesting or shocking twists here, the supporting characters are almost stereotypically insulting (Hefner's brother is a disastrous cinematic creation) and despite some decent performances from the two leads, they failed to keep me interested in these under-written characters who Blitz thinks we are able to like even if they don't say or do very much that's likeable. ROCKET SCIENCE makes a wrong turn after wrong turn and in trying to make it a heartbreak/mystery/coming of age story, it's narrative soon goes off into a tangent. The third act in particular, the writing goes sour when the film really needs to be at it's best as it chugs along to the inevitable conclusion. Visually it's about as mundane as a geometry class, with a shivering and unrelenting "whimsical" score a Wes Anderson style long and drowning voice-over , ROCKET SCIENCE is a movie that just doesn't work as a coherent story but it does have moments of genuine car crash humor. Snickers and smiles maybe but not nearly enough laughs or emotional moments to care.

rating: 2.5

ROCKET SCIENCE IS OUT NOW ON THE DVD AT RETAILERS SUCH AS PLAY.COM FOR £9.99