Rocket Science
Comedy, Drama
HBO Home Video  (2007) 101 mins R

6.8 (4,740 votes)
From the award winning director of Spellbound comes the story of Hal Hefner, a misfit teenager with a doomed crush, a beat up suitcase and the whole world resting on the tip of his tongue....

Rocket Science follows the life of fifteen year old Hal, an awkward kid with a stutter who wants to rise from obscurity and become an unlikely hero of his high school. Hal sees his change when Ginny Ryerson - the ambitious, fast talking star of the debate team - convinces him that he's got raw talent to succeed at public speaking. Falling madly in love and discovering new confidence, Hal sets out on an improbable journey through the pitfalls and perils of the New Jersey suburbs. Deadpan comic and achingly real, Rocket Science is "a metaphor for the insecurity and confusion felt by every sensitive soul trapped inside the bubble of adolescence"(The New York Times)...

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Cast and Crew
Nicholas D'Agosto  ......  Ben Wekselbaum
Anna Kendrick  ......  Ginny Ryerson
Utkarsh Ambudkar  ......  Ram
Candace Scholz  ......  Townsend Prep Debater (as Candace Burr Scholz)
Margo Martindale  ......  Coach Lumbly
Reece Thompson  ......  Hal Hefner (as Reece Daniel Thompson)
Director  .....  Jeffrey Blitz
Producer  .....  Effie Brown; Sean Welch
Writer  .....  Jeffrey Blitz
Notes
Goofs:
Errors in geography: When Hal first enters the Luis Dry Cleaners in "Trenton," a Baltimore City Police van drives past behind him. (more)

Trivia:
The drink that Hal takes from his brothers' room and gets drunk on is Herradura Reposado tequila. (more)

Filming Locations:
Baltimore, Maryland, USA (more)

Quotes:
Ginny Ryerson: Resolved: that Hal Hefner should really stop letting the world tell him what's possible and try to find out for himself. Maybe that's just a life's philosophy suited only to some of us, those who cherish winning. So maybe it's not for you. But I think it is. (more)

Awards:
1 win & 6 nominations (more)