(2007) How can a kid reach the moon of his dreams when he suffers from a frustrating disability? One must take either the affirmative or the negative and argue the position effectively. Director/writer Jeffrey Blitz received the Dramatic Directing Award at Sundance for this film about unusual - some of them actually quite weird - people residing in Plainsboro, New Jersey. (While sexual topics course throughout this movie and a few instances of vulgar language along with flipping the bird occur, no sexual acts or nudity takes place, nothing most 13-year-olds haven't already experienced; the R rating seems unjustified.) In a debate, I'll take the affirmative in favor of this film.

During the final round of the high-school state championship debate (topic: farm subsidies), Ben Wekselbaum (Nicholas D'Agosto), already a legend in his own time, at the podium in the middle of his presentation suddenly goes silent on the stage, resulting in a second-place finish for himself and his partner, Virginia Ryerson (Anna Kendrick). Ben drops out of school and goes to work in a dry-cleaning shop while Ginny, determined to take first-place next time, begins personally recruiting for the debate team, seeking out people with disabilities. On the school bus she asks Hal Hefner (Reece Daniel Thompson): "I've ferreted you out" from the masses.

Fifteen-year-old Hal, struggling with a speech impediment, lives with his mother and agenda-obsessed older brother Earl (Vincent Piazza), who uses girls' names when addressing Hal. When Hal's father left - saying by way of explanation, "I can't put it into words" - the arguments and debating in the household ended, though not the cruelty. Soon after, Pete, a Korean-American judge, and his teenage son Heston move in. Answering questions in class, ordering a pizza in the cafeteria, any attempt at public discourse results in stammering embarrassment for Hal.

The high-school counselor, Mr Lewinsky (the name's a snarky wink), attempts to help Hal and another student Honoria with their handicap, offering breathing exercises, whispering, and speaking in a foreign accent (I expected an experiment of putting marbles in his mouth as did the famous Roman orator Cicero), though he admits his expertise is in hyperactivity. When Ginny implies that he stole a gold locket from her backpack on the bus, Hal realizes Earl was the thief; but he returns it to her mother, taking the blame rather than attempting a stuttering explanation.

Nevertheless, Ginny, flaunting her fluid fluency, invites him over to help her with research on the topic of sexual abstinence, the topic for this year's debate. She lists various reasons against it, ending with "everyone dies a virgin." Pressed for an affirmative viewpoint, Hal, in drips and dribbles, can only come up with one: "Love is more special when you do find it." She takes offense when he says she's not someone he'd think of in sexual terms; she compliments him on not being nearly as retarded as he sounds.

Embarrassed by his first failure at stating the resolution of the debate, he hides in the janitor's closet where Ginny finds him and where Hal demonstrates his skill at osculation. Across the street from Ginny lives Lewis, whose parents play music together as marriage therapy, where Hal visits to be near Ginny; a cello will eventually find its way through a window across the street. Referring to himself as "the disfluent mascot" of the debate team, he stops by Ginny's house, telling her mother: "I'm done with masturbation and ready to show her." But Ginny, who has been ignoring him and seen with another student, has transferred from Plainsboro High to Townsend Prep.

Eleven months after Hal's father abandoned his family, Judge Pete departs the Hefner household: "This is why your dad left - you're all just messed up." Hal asks his father about love and life who answers that after awhile: "You stop trying to figure it all out." Ben's realization the year before had been that life is a continuum without any consequential or meaningful moments; but when Hal asks him for help, he teams up by teaching his partner "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."

Ginny, confident in an environment surrounding her with positive reinforcement - as opposed to Ben, who had taken the negative position, denying his advantages - accentuates the affirmative view; but her choice is purely academic in her all-out effort to win the prize. Hal, a walking/talking contradiction of affirmative persistence ("never sound retreat") in the face of so much negative feedback - even Mr Lewinsky recommends his lowering expectations and Ms Lumbly, the debate coach, suggests he look at things realistically - confuses Ginny.

It's either love or revenge for love gone bad, neither of which is rocket science, but it allows a kid to shoot for the moon.

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Copyright © 2008 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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