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

Sep 26, 2017

Brick is quotable, clever and cryptic...

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Sight & Sound

Sep 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

Jun 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

Jul 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

May 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

May 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, 2026

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, 2026

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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Robert P

@Superbad Sep 25, 2026

Brick = a *4.5* star Movie!

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S. O

@Col._Angus Jun 11, 2026

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, 2026

Joseph Gordon Lewitt at his best ❤

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HipHo H

@HipHo May 2, 2026

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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Rian Johnson

Director

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Brendan Frye

Lukas Haas

The Pin

Nora Zehetner

Laura Dannon

Noah Fleiss

Tugger

Matt O'Leary

The Brain

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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

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