Here's a twist -- an American high-school movie that has a brain.

This indie-minded effort suggests a filmmaker too enamored by his influences and struggling to establish a cogent vision of his own.

Writer-director Jeffrey Blitz brings wit and pathos to the story of a compulsive stutterer.

Humor, compassion, tenderness, forgiveness and friendship. The trials and tribulations of youth and of life told with heartfelt emotion and some well executed deadpan comedy. A little off-beat and a lot of fun.