Brick

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Brick

R

2005

1h 49m

Mystery & Thriller

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

79%

Tomatometer

141 Reviews

86%

Popcornmeter

100,000+ Ratings

After receiving a frantic phone call from his ex-girlfriend, teenage loner Brendan Frye (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) learns that her dead body has been found. Vowing to solve her murder himself, he must infiltrate high-school cliques that he previously avoided. His search for the truth places him before some of the school's roughest characters, leading to a confrontation with a drug dealer known as the Pin (Lukas Haas).

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Critics Consensus

This entertaining homage to noirs past has been slickly and compellingly updated to a contemporary high school setting.

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Victoria Segal

New Statesman

09/26/2017

Brick is quotable, clever and cryptic...

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Sight & Sound

09/28/2006

The teens in Rian Johnson's striking debut feature Brick express themselves in jargon that sounds as if lifted straight from the pages of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler.

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Ben Walters

Time Out

06/24/2006

The self-consciously mannered rat-a-tat-tat dialogue also mines a neat overlap between teen slang and noir patois, both of which can be indecipherable to non-initiates.

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Grant Hermanns

Screen Rant

07/10/2025

9/10

Rian Johnson's Brick remains one of the most remarkable directorial debuts with his combination of a sharp, energetic script and stylish direction.

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Justin Brown

Medium Popcorn

05/28/2023

2/5

I'm not particularly into this genre and then putting it in a high school setting was a bit weird. But it was entertaining to watch because it's so nutty. It's a grounded, nutty film.

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Brandon Collins

Medium Popcorn

05/28/2023

4/5

This movie floored me when I first saw it and it still holds up despite some inconsistent performances and pacing. "Brick" made me a lifelong fan of Rian Johnson.

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gibran carrillo

Jan 17

I LOVE THIS MOVIE!!!!! I first found out about this movie back in the second grade and it fully caught my attention in eight grade ever since. I o first saw in college and ever since it’s been a movie that I really love. The vibe, the story, setting, the production value, the acting, the characters, the camera work AMAZING MOVIE!!! I’m glad I got to watch it in the big screen, it was a beautiful experience. I’m glad I got to watch it in theaters. 🎥🎥🎥

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Juli S

Jan 16

The "transplant" concept is executed superbly. Director Rian Johnson sets a 'cinema noir' piece in a high school, transposes noir archetypes (hard-boiled detective, femme fatale, corrupt official, gangster, naive girl who 'gets in over her head') to high-school standards (loner, prom queen, power-hungry principal, bully, social climber) with creativity. My only reservations are that a) the wonderfully snappy dialogue is sometimes garbled (Mr Johnson, please re-record Gordon-Levitt in studio!), and 2) drama was lessened by using a color-format rather than black-and-white.

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S. O

@Col._Angus Jun 11

The dialogue in this movie is so bad that it makes it hard to follow the rest of the story/plot. It's a low-budget film, and it shows. Not good, on so many levels. Trying to stay with this is like being forced to not leave a neighborhood larpers convention. The longer you stay, the more of a loser you are.

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Mark C.

@mrpiggy1992 May 21

Joseph Gordon Lewitt at his best ❤

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HipHo H

@HipHo May 2

One of the best noirs I've ever seen; for a debut it's astounding. It's original and innovative - amazing film

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Phoebe B.

@phoebe08 Apr 30

This was not on my to-watch list but I can attest that film junkies will likely love this movie. Clever, compelling, and complex, Brick was an unexpected action-packed high school whodunit chalk full of well cast characters and gut wrenching plot twists. Littered with 1940s film noir slang, the language was hard to understand and I consequently missed details but it, in a way, added a unique charm to the film's intentions. Actors like Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Brendan) and Nora Zehetner (Laura) dazzled me with top-tier performances and it is no surprise that director Rian Johnson went on to direct many of my favorite mystery films. Kudos for pulling off a remarkable niche project!

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Rian Johnson

Director

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Brendan Frye

Lukas Haas

The Pin

Nora Zehetner

Laura Dannon

Noah Fleiss

Tugger

Matt O'Leary

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Synopsis

After receiving a frantic phone call from his ex-girlfriend, teenage loner Brendan Frye (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) learns that her dead body has been found. Vowing to solve her murder himself, he must infiltrate high-school cliques that he previously avoided. His search for the truth places him before some of the school's roughest characters, leading to a confrontation with a drug dealer known as the Pin (Lukas Haas).

Director: Rian Johnson
Producer: Ram Bergman, Mark G. Mathis
Screenwriter: Rian Johnson
Production Co: Bergman Lustig Productions
Rating: R (Violent Content|Drug Content)
Genre: Mystery & Thriller, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 21, 2005, Original
Rerelease Date (Theaters): Mar 31, 2006
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 12, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA): $2.1M
Runtime: 1h 49m