Movies

There are not really any "big names" in Brick. The closest would be Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who, if we ignore his hand in 10 Things I Hate About You, is not well known as a movie actor but rather as Tommy on TV's "3rd Rock from the Sun." Please do not let the absence of familiar names and faces deter you from seeing Brick. I thought it was a very clever and entertaining piece of work.

Reading the synopsis provided with the movie (I apologize for not having it available) would tell you to expect an elaborate drug-related plot involving a bunch of high school students. I was drawn to the movie by the trailer from which I had little knowledge of the movie, just an unexplained interest in seeing it. I was hesitant from the synopsis, but it must not have deterred me for too long! What type of ridiculous drug plot could a handful of 16-, 17- and 18-year-old kids actually get into? How far fetched is this story line going to be?

Forget all of that. What the creative team did was take a story that has essentially become cliché in modern cinema and breathed new life into it. A disinterested, scorned man receives a cry for help from his ex-girlfriend and avails himself of a few liberties not necessarily intended for private citizens under the law only to find the trail to her is long and ultimately leads to a drug king-pin. So far so normal. What was unique to Brick was the high-school setting. You have kids living with their parents trying to uncover conspiracies between classes. Sounds ridiculous, right? Exactly. It is ridiculous. So get over it and enjoy the movie.

The way the teenagers related the drug plot to their pre-adult existence was well done and ultimately made the movie fun to watch.

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