The very first shot of “Rocket Science,” which is later repeated in numerous, subtle ways throughout this heartwarming and endearing — not to mention hilarious — film, is the image of a teenage couple making out as if their life depends on it. As they go at it, fumbling in the balcony of what appears to be an empty auditorium, the soundtrack drifts in with the audio of a debate competition, already well under way.

Paired together, the dignified sounds and the sexual images are a jarring combination, seemingly out of synch with each other. But then we realize that, no, they are all occurring in the same room — New Jersey’s state debate championship. And these two young, anonymous lovers are about as far removed as they can be from young Ginny (Anna Kendrick) and the other debaters on the stage below, who are picking apart farm subsidies in front of gathered friends, families, and judges.

As directed by Jeffrey Blitz, who earned a narrative directing award at Sundance for his 2002 spelling-bee documentary “Spellbound,” there’s something about this opening sequence — and indeed, about much of “Rocket Science” — that looks up to those two horny teenagers while looking down on the suit-wearing, argument-drafting, trophy-seeking debaters. Each time the theme is reiterated, usually in the form of a retort or an aside, the more Mr. Blitz seems to be hinting at the way he really felt as he interviewed all those spelling geniuses for “Spellbound.” Much as that documentary captured the horror of so many childhoods being stunted in exchange for a no-holds-barred grasp at spelling fame, so does “Rocket Science” suggest that what’s missing in these hyper-motivated go-getters is the innocence and fun of childhood.

Granted, Ginny exists on one end of the wide spectrum. She has ascended to the upper echelons of the high school debating world, but she lacks some of the basics of civilized human behavior. She walks the halls with a determined stride, speaks every day in the same rushed, dense sentences that litter her formal debate presentations, and begins preparing for the upcoming debate season a year ahead of time.

We meet her as she sits alongside Ben Wekselbaum (Nicholas D’Agosto), something of a debate god who, to everyone’s dismay (except that couple making out overhead), experiences what can only be called an onstage meltdown. As his words slow to a stop, Ginny can feel the state debating trophy slipping from her grasp. As she sobs in a bathroom stall, joint in hand — the most emotional gesture she will make the entire film — it’s clear that she will never suffer this indignity again.

Enter Hal Hefner (Reece Thompson), a boy who may not know the pain of losing a debate, but who has endured his own share of grief. His brother Earl (Vincent Piazza) relentlessly picks on Hal, mocking him for not having a plan (Earl’s plan involves stealing things and storing them in a hidden safe box). Hal’s mother rotates through suitors as if they were wardrobes, men who run away from the Hefners’ home in fits of rage, assuring the brothers that their mother is insane. To top it off, Hal was born with a stutter, a debilitating condition that often leaves him repeating a single syllable, resorting to inhales and exhales and an array of substitute words just to get through a sentence. He’s awkward, friendless, and without love from his family, or from anyone resembling a girlfriend.

But that all looks to change when Ginny sits next to Hal one day on the bus, informing the young stutterer that she has noticed him from afar and believes he has what it takes to be a master debater. Confused but excited by the sudden female attention, Hal suddenly sees in the debating world a chance to turn it all around: a way to let his hidden intellect shine, a way to impress Ginny, a way to make friends and, as Earl says, a way to get a plan.

It’s clear to just about everyone, though, that this a doomed and misguided plan for Hal, and that if “Rocket Science” intends to tell a typical awkward-boy-beats-adversity-discovers-himself story, then Mr. Blitz has chosen the most impossible, and unbelievable, way of going about it. But fortunately for him, and us, “Rocket Science” is less about the outcome than the journey.

From the outset, Hal seems to think that the world operates according to a rulebook that he has not been given a copy of — that if he can crack the code, all the pieces of this shattered puzzle will tie together. From his very first scene, this quest is obvious, from the awkward luggage (his dad’s) that he pulls behind him through the school hallways, to the relationship (based on a few kisses in the janitor’s closet) he mistakes for true love and the secret debate weapon he uses partially as a way to achieve victory and partially as a way to exact revenge.

Given the narration that opens the film, its focus on a dysfunctional youngster, and the aura of bizarre that settles down around this stutterer, his family, and his friends, “Rocket Science” will no doubt be compared relentlessly to the works of Wes Anderson. But unlike Mr. Anderson’s movies, which feature happy outsiders content with their detachment from reality, Mr. Blitz gives us a hero who begins his quest desperately wanting to fit in, only to realize that there is no road map.

There are rules in debate, just as there are rules in life. But rather than rushing to memorize the rulebook — rushing to join the debate team, or the spelling championship — Mr. Blitz knows that kids should just worry about being kids, with no rules to hold them down and all the time in the world to discover what rulebook they actually want to subscribe to.