Badmovies.org Forum

More often than not you see a film and it's pretty much a copy of some other film, the same plot elements, the same genres, etc, etc.  Then you get a film like Brick, which, although borrowing elements from several genres, mixes them together in a unique way.  Brick takes the Noir gumshoe mystery type story and puts it in the setting of a high school.   To quote Ebert, you accept that premise and run with it, you have no problem with the events on screen (even if you do wonder why no one ever seems to attend classes here.)  

The movie centers around Brendan, a fellow I've often wanted to be, the loner who's fine just being alone.  He gets a call from an old girlfriend who says she needs his help, only to promptly turn around and tell him, "Never mind." before ending up dead.

It's a really interesting film, and I recommend checking it out.

I liked this one a lot more than I expected I would. After all, it's a movie set in a high school (a genre I generally hate), and it starred Joseph Gordon Levitt, a child star I associated with second-rate sitcoms.

Surprisingly the juxtaposition of the noir plot in an suburban high school works. I haven't fully analyzed why it work, just that the unreality of the situation seems to heighten all the genre conventions. It helps that story is pretty good, in that Elmore Leonard fashion. All the characters are made more tragic, yet remain slightly ridiculous.

Levitt has gone on to some surprisingly accomplished performances. I recommend checking him out as the brain-damaged protagonist of The Lookout. That movie is not as good as this one, but Levitt's performance is worth seeing.

I enjoyed the director's second movie, the quirky con-man flick THE BROTHERS BLOOM, and I suspect I'd like this one too.  Rian Johnson is a name to keep an eye on; he's a good director with some original ideas.

I rented this with some hesitation; seeing as I don't particularly care for high school movies. I found it hard to get into but it had just enough violence to keep me watching (i've been going through a phase of French movies, so my senses are dulling somewhat in the sensitivity dept.) but the more I watched, the more i liked it. I'm not saying its worth purchasing but it makes a good movie for rental night...

If you like French films with loads of happy violence, you should find Dobermann (1997).  It'll have you laughing, sweating and cringing every few minutes.  Well worth the 30 bucks I spent buying it online.  Sex, guns, crime and blood...do films get any better than this?!?

Loved Brick.  It had a very nice use of language, and some quite ridiculous moments that were well done [beating up the stoner guy, the drug 'baron's car etc]

Need more movies like this!

I found the movie quite fun how this had high school kids in a Noir setting. All this hard-boil Noir films were with people in their 30s. They switched it up in a unique way.

When I was on my late teens I had this phase, I would read lots of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler books. They were of great help when I saw this movie, I could understand pretty fast where everything was going.

I wouldn't say it's a perfect film. The plot is too twisty, and more often than not it pays attention to details that later don't ammount to much (at first I was convinced the main character had broken ribs or something, but after he blacks out they completely forget about it). And the direction is a bit too flashy, which mekes me think I won't enjoy it as much in future viewings.

But you have to admire the guts it takes to follow the main concept, transfering the characters and situations of a hard boiled book and to place them in highschool. That alone and the terrific acting by Joseph Gordon-Levitt make the the film worth watching.

So in the end I wouldn't say it's a must-see, but if you are into hard boiled novels or you like impossible mixes it can be fascinating.