Review of Brick (2006) by Hannah M — 22 Jul 2010

I really don't get how people can rate this so highly. I can only assume people that are rating it either don't watch a lot of Film Noir or can easily forgive unconvincing acting in roles that require really good acting. I would be more positive about the movie if I wasn't so puzzled about it's apparent high rating. There is an interesting idea there and I often felt the movies heart was in the right place. However it just totally failed to work. The High School kids playing Noir seemed all wrong and they just weren't good enough as actors to do the fast talking parts and the use of college kids and a modern day setting seemed to work against a lot of the stylistic choices often making it seem like kids playing dress up.

If the dialogue was toned down and they hadn't tried so hard to make it seem like a Film Noir it actually could have been a pretty good film but for me I couldn't stop noticing how hard they were trying and how much they were failing. The whole thing seemed really forced and fake and totally failed to draw me into the moment.

Yet there was some potential there and some decent moments, mostly visuals and some good foley usage.