Movies / Movie Reviews

Brick

By Al Kratina
April 10, 2006 - 16:15

Not so much funny 'ha-ha' as funny 'dead junkie'.

Brick

    Sarcasm is the lowest form of humor. Saying exactly the opposite of what you mean while making a face like you’re talking to a toddler takes as much comedic timing as passing gas, and is just as funny. Deadpan humor, on the other hand, requires great skill. Sadly, the same level of skill is not required to watch a movie. Generally, all that seems to be required to gain access to a movie theatre is somewhere between ten and fifteen dollars, three loud friends, and a cell-phone with an obnoxious ring tone. Still, Brick has much to offer for those who appreciate a good blank stare and enjoy spending at least 45 minutes figuring out if someone is kidding.

     The good news is that Brick is kidding. Which is great, because if it wasn’t, it would be funny in a totally different way, morphing from razor-sharp parody to the kind of laugh you get watching from a kid with polio falling down a flight of stars. The bad news is that it takes about 45 minutes to figure this out. The best way to describe the movie is that it’s a parody that plays everything with a completely straight face. Brick is a film noir, in the classic Maltese Falcon, Big Sleep vein, except instead of setting the story in the seedy, chiaroscuro corners of 1940s Los Angeles, it takes place in a high school. All the main characters are under 18, but you’d be hard pressed to find one that hasn’t apparently memorized every Phillip Marlowe novel ever written. On paper, this seems patently ridiculous, like setting a horror movie in a water park, or making an all-midget Western, but the moment the private detective/chief of police showdown is replaced with a face-off between the long-haired kid from Third Rock From The Sun and Shaft as an assistant Vice Principal, I was hooked. This contradiction is both hilarious and surreal, giving the film an otherworldly feel. There are no sly winks at the camera from the cast, no knowing glances, and no jokes within the movie itself. But by taking itself so seriously, and being so true to the conventions of the genre, Brick, manages to make itself both an intriguing story and a great gag. This parody is about as far from the Scary Movie school of comedy as you can get without accidentally turning into a Merchant-Ivory film, but that doesn’t make it any less amusing.

     Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Brendan Frye, a high school kid who keeps to himself and avoids cliques. When his ex-girlfriend calls him and asks for help, he gets on her trail, only to discover her dead. From there on, Frye embarks on a quest to find her killer and use as much obscure 1940s jargon as possible while still avoiding the word ‘jitterbug’. The plot is labyrinthine, the characters memorable without being annoyingly quirky, and the mystery is engaging in its own right, even without the element of the parody. Despite the young cast and anachronistic setting, the film is just as gritty as any film noir I’ve seen, which makes everything even more strange and surreal. First time feature director Rian Johnson keeps things moving quickly, and manages to make the film immersive, where perhaps a lesser filmmaker would allow things to degenerate into either slapstick or ponderous seriousness. While at times Brick does feel like David Lynch directing a Hardy Boys novel, it’s smart, unique, and remarkably funny without telling any jokes. 

Last Updated: January 17, 2025 - 08:20