Brick


Rating = B+

This movie is cleverly done, although I suspect some film noir fans will reject it. If “Clueless” a decade ago was Jane Austin 's Emma updated to “Valley girls” in high school, this movie is Dashiell Hammett and bits of the “Maltese Falcon” movie updated to another contemporary California high school. I particularly enjoyed Sam-Spade-like tough talk by the teenage characters incongruously juxtaposed with lines like, “I'll see you at the next parent-teachers meeting.”

[2006-04-18]