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List Price: $9.99 | | Label: Universal Studios
Salesrank: 3955
Released: August 8, 2006 |
| Our Price: $2.99 |
| Used Price: $1.97 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Brendan Frye is a loner, someone who knows all the angles but has chosen to stay on the outside. When the girl he loves turns up dead, he is determined to find the "who" and "why" and plunges into the dark and dangerous social strata of rich girl Laura, intimidating Tug, drug-addled Dode, seductive Kara, and the ominous Pin. But who can he really trust? These are the ingredients of Brick, a gritty and provocative thriller that critics describe as "a clever, twist-filled whodunit!" (Claudia Puig, USA Today)
Description of Brick:
High school collides with hard-boiled film noir in the twisty, cunning Brick. When he gets a mysterious message from his ex-girlfriend, a high school loner named Brendan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Mysterious Skin) starts to dig into a crisscrossed web of drugs and duplicity, eventually getting entwined in the criminal doings of a teenage crime lord known as the Pin (Lukas Haas), his thuggish henchman Tugger (Noah Fleiss, Joe the King), and a mysterious girl named Laura (Nora Zehetner, Fifty Pills). Brick has not only the seductive, labyrinthine plot of a crime thriller by Dashiell Hammett (The Maltese Falcon) or Raymond Chandler (Farewell, My Lovely) but also a dense high-school version of hard-boiled lingo that's both comic and poetic. The movie unfolds with headlong momentum as Brendan manipulates, fights, and staggers his way through layers of high-school society. Gordon-Levitt is excellent; between this and the equally compelling Mysterious Skin, he's left his 3rd Rock from the Sun days behind. Also featuring Meagan Good (Waist Deep) and Richard Roundtree (Shaft). --Bret Fetzer
Brick Reviews:
only my fav movie 
2009-09-04 - what can i say its my fav movie i can watch it 100 times. it has the feel of an inde film with the art style and more
moose
PRETENTIOUS GARBAGE 
2009-08-06 - Watch the movie "Havoc" with Anne Hathaway to see how a teen drug/murder drama SHOULD be done. the teen actors in brick had little to work with...flimsy cluttered plot, mindless aimless violence, silly manipulation and macho posturing. the dialogue sounds like a 7th grade computer geek's impersonation of bogart or cagney. nobody of ANY generation speaks the way these kids do. half the time you are scratching your head at what these quasi-hipsters are even trying to say.
110 minutes of film-school cleverness 
2009-06-14 - Not bad, but not good either. Why? Because every scene, every shot, every line of dialogue is overdone by Art. It doesn't take long before you realize you're saying to yourself, well, look how the blood is artfully arranged...hey, one side is all wearing black, the other white...notice how all the actors are standing, carefully posed in the culvert...listen how cheerleaders are saying "push 'em back," only you can't see them and the hero is being chased around by a madman with a knife...etc. All the cleverness absolutely overwhelms the film.
One other oddity I noticed: it's rated R, and yet I'm fairly sure I heard not a single obscenity, something that even some PG movies have. There was barely a hint of sex, and no exposed skin. As for violence, the hero gets punched a lot, and there's one--yes, arty--scene involving a gun. I guess that's what got it the R rating. Strange.
What a mind f--- way to start a movie. 
2009-05-29 - Great film - linear stories are the most visceral... you get to follow and find out as the protagonist does so you actually get to experience the emotions.
Reminiscent of Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet, or Dream Story/Eyes Wide Shut (for kids!). Even the weirdest characters and situations feel disturbingly real. I think the music helps... creeps under your skin.
Looks and sounds good - this guy knows where to put a camera (and how long to leave it sitting still) as well as when to add musical accompaniment and choosing the correct tune.
Ironic that in the same scene when they preach an important lesson - to let someone you love go and not be bitter at the world and those around you/them - she is dishonest about not needing his help.
One thing that bugged me at first was the tech-nerd who spews all this street knowledge... not sure if that would happen with a kid who relies on his mom's car and cell phone for transportation and communication - but is a quick way for Brendan to get some info and start his Wraith Quest.
Brendan seems like a more experienced criminal/crime-fighter than your typical forty-year-old veteran thief/vigilante, and could probably outwit Neil from Heat (doesn't let the woman get the best of him). Too bad he's up against Damien from South Park.
Since most of the characters act decades older than they appear, it works in the diegesis.
Other thoughts (PLOT SPOILERS):
It's like Twin Peaks if that motorcycle guy had not been such a [...].
The recap at the end of the film is unnecessary. The audience already suspects Laura - better to leave the rest to their minds to put the pieces together... just needed to walk away and show the brick falling out of the locker... doesn't make sense that she is altruistic.
Why didn't Brendan throw the brick into the guys' windshield when he saw him coming at him?? Did he think all would be forgiven by dropping it on the ground?
Too many movies about high school suck, so I'm glad this film was recommended to me because I wouldn't have found it otherwise. This is also true with horror films - I won't watch them until someone tells me it's actually worth it... Donnie Darko is another one.
I appreciate films with events that can and do happen - like death - that do not exploit the actions, but focus on their effects.
How did that black chick who wears bad theater makeup know so much? Did she actually know anyone involved or did I miss something while typing?
All the drug-dealers in high school seem to have had years of mob warfare experience... (maybe the school made them study The Godfather trilogy as freshman using the role-playing method) nice that they made the boss a cripple... just like Pauly (Goodfellas), he can't get far on his own, but he doesn't need to.
Horrible the things people do when they suspect the worst about others; better to suspect the best and do great things.
Who really left the last note for Brendan? Emily or Laura??
brick rocks!
2009-05-20 - among the best movies i have ever seen. solid acting weaved into a modern version of the old detective movies. awesome dialogue.
