Rotten Tomatoes gives the film 84% from 111 critic reviews, with an average score of 6.93/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Though "Rocket Science" appears to be a typically quirky indie, the well-rounded performances and director Jeffrey Blitz's clear affection for his characters gives the film its proper human spark." At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 73 based on 28 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".