Remember that kid on 3rd Rock from the Sun? Well he's all grown up and he's turned out to be a hell of an actor. His name's Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Keep an eye on him. He's going to be talked about the way Ed Norton was early in his career. In this film, Brick, he plays Brendan, your typical noir anti-hero. This movie is pretty much all style, but that's like saying a Twinkie is nothing but sugar. Well, duh! You know that going in. Rian Johnson's neo-noir is set in a Southern Californian high school, but the students and faculty speak using the hard-boiled argot of Dashiell Hammett and Mickey Spillane novels. This leads to rapid-fire exchanges such as this:
Assistant VP Gary Trueman: You've helped this office out before.
Brendan Frye: No, I gave you Jerr to see him eaten, not to see you fed.
Assistant VP Gary Trueman: Fine. And very well put.
Brendan Frye: Accelerated English, Mrs. Kasprzyk.
Assistant VP Gary Trueman: Tough teacher?
Brendan Frye: Tough but fair.
The dialogue and delivery are a bit jarring at first, but once you get used to it, it becomes entertainment in itself to try and decipher what exactly it is the characters are saying. Pretty soon it'll seem like the most natural thing in the world that the characters are speaking that way, kind of like that Romeo and Juliet remake with Claire Danes and diCaprio. Anyway, the story involves drugs and a lost (in more than one way) love interest. Brendan sets out to find out what's happened to his ex-girlfriend and hijinks ensue. Just rent it already and support somebody who's at least trying to make good stuff. It'll be better than spending your money on obvious dreck like this.
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