Brick is quotable, clever and cryptic...

| Sep 26, 2017

The teens in Rian Johnson's striking debut feature Brick express themselves in jargon that sounds as if lifted straight from the pages of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler.

| Sep 28, 2006

The self-consciously mannered rat-a-tat-tat dialogue also mines a neat overlap between teen slang and noir patois, both of which can be indecipherable to non-initiates.

| Jun 24, 2006

While Brick is chock-full of the characters, language and imagery of classic noir, it is in fact set among contemporary teenagers. It's a gimmick, but it's a damn fine gimmick.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 24, 2006

Even with its shortcomings, Brick provides solid thrills for film noir fans.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 16, 2006

Bizarre and ingenious neo-noir from US writer-director Rian Johnson.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 13, 2006

| Original Score: 5/5 | May 13, 2006

Like the best noirs, Brick is a triumph of attitude, and there's no arguing that its brand of deadpan cool is precisely unique.

| May 12, 2006

It's great to see Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Mysterious Skin) in the juicy role of a high-school gumshoe on the trail of his estranged girlfriend's killers.

| May 12, 2006

A smart, original neo-noir that works as an ingenious mindgame as well as a slick Hollywood calling card.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 12, 2006

Although it's not The Big Sleep, Brick is hardly a snooze.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 6, 2006

Alas, Brick, from writer-director Rian Johnson, isn't as clever as its conceit.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | May 5, 2006

Brick is smart -- perhaps too smart for its own good at times. But in the end, its affectations add up to entertainment.

| Original Score: B | Apr 28, 2006

Although Brick can be a bit thick, you have to admire the effort.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 20, 2006

Never really offers an adequate justification for its central genre-transplant conceit.

| Original Score: C+ | Apr 12, 2006

Brick drops down like a frenzied teen fever dream of criminal patter and hairpin plot turns. A word to the wise: Pay attention, or you'll feel a lot less wise.

| Original Score: B | Apr 8, 2006

There's no denying that Brick is weirdly expressive, often when it seems most artificial. What begins as the most gimmicky sort of genre retread somehow evolves into that most elusive of films: a personal statement.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 8, 2006

It is possible to leave Brick without fully appreciating how all the pieces fit together, but still satisfied by a well-crafted tale undertaken by a director who pays homage to a film tradition in a truly original way.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 7, 2006

Brick is a first feature for Johnson, and while it's not an unqualified success, it definitely marks him as a young filmmaker to watch.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Apr 7, 2006

Johnson isn't the first director to subvert suburbia, but he's probably the first to have done such a fine job of it on his first outing.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 7, 2006