I watched Brick a few nights ago and it’s easily one of the Top 10 movies of the year I’ve seen. It’s a modern day film noir. Meaning it’s a detective story with really wild dialog. Think Max Payne and Sin City as recent homages to the genre.

The star of the film is Joseph Gordon-Lewitt who is best know as the kid on the TV show 3rd Rock From the Sun. He plays Branden, senior (I think) in high school who finds his ex girlfriend dead and tries to find out why and who killed her. That’s the basic premise of it. The tale quickly careens you into fantastic characters and situations with Branden leading the charge. He’s a complete bad ass as he digs for the truth, holding back to get more info when he needs it and beating ass when duty calls. It’s wonderfully shot, the cast is awesome (Levitt is my new favorite actor now), the editing is tight as can be and the dialog drips cool. I’m rambling like a fantatical movie critic, but I really love this movie.

BUT- if your the type of person who can’t follow a plot and has to ask people “what did he say? What’s going on?” this might not be the movie for you. The style of dialog takes some getting used to, they speak fast and use a certain type of vocabulary that is thick with code words. You can easily watch this movie a few times and still pull out stuff you never noticed before. Also, if you don’t buy into the premise, that these high school kids are operating in the type of world they are in (a young drug cartel), you won’t like it. If that sense of disbelief is there, it won’t have the same effect.

Buy it, rent it, do whatever you have to to see Brick.