A teenager tackles the mysteries of life, love and public speaking in Rocket Science, a wry comedy of adolescent angst by Jeffrey Blitz, director of the Academy Award®-nominated documentary Spellbound. Making his feature narrative debut, Blitz leaves behind the conventions and clichés of coming-of-age tales to instead conjure a world where everyone, regardless of age, is befuddled by desire and the longing for human connection. Mixing humor with a compassionate regard for his characters and their idiosyncrasies, Blitz creates a film about the little insights that can emerge from, and ultimately eclipse, the agonies and disappointments of youth.

“Writer-director Jeffrey Blitz segues effortlessly from nonfiction to fiction— and from spelling bees to speech tournaments—in Rocket Science, a disarmingly quirky follow-up to his Oscar-nominated doc Spellbound. Following a stuttering, insecure youth who joins the debate team after falling hard for a brainy female classmate, this unusually voluble comedy is as eloquent about love, self-realization and adolescent angst as its protagonist is endearingly tongue-tied.” —Justin Chang, Variety

Directed by Jeffrey Blitz. 2007, USA • 98 minutes • 35mm