MovieChat Forums > Brick (2006) Discussion > What is going on with the dialogue?

What is going on with the dialogue?

posted 12 years ago by professormcg
46 replies | jump to latest

Ok, I watched this movie expecting it to be a quality indie flick but half-way through the movie I just stopped watching it, which is not normal for me at all. In my opinion, the dialogue is out-of-place and ridiculous. I understand what the director was trying to do with the dialogue. But this film came out in 2006 and the characters were still in high school, I cannot believe that anyone in high school acted nor talked like this in 2006. I'm sorry; I really am. I hate to criticize a movie that everyone loves so much but the dialogue for me was just too unbelievable.

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[–] Opwiz 11 years ago

You are right that the movie isn't realistic in terms of how the children speak and the serious issues they are involved in (murder, drug-trade, etc.) but I think that is what made the movie great. Its a crime mystery set in high school. Instead of patronizing to children and making them act shallow and moronic (because that is how children are right?), they are smart, calculating and articulate.

The plot involves children and their drama and the principals and parents are just sort of there as a force to be recognized but in the end 90% of the drama takes place between the children. This is in my mind more realistic on how it was growing up - you never thought as a child "I'm just a child and none of my drama is important" you where just as involved in the world as you are as a grown up. People forget this growing up and then make movies where grown ups are the important ones and children are just playing around being silly..

[–] ranierwolfcastle 11 years ago

the film was more about style than anything else. its too artsy for my taste. maybe i'd like it if i'd went to film school

[–] britta-andrews 11 years ago

It is a common misconception (and one mentioned elsewhere is this thread) that people of the time actually spoke in the fast-talking, slang heavy style of the hardboiled/noir films from back in the day. People no more spoke that way than people of Shakespeare's time spoke in the manner of HIS dialog; both were stylized even in their original period. Complaining that the dialog in this movie is out-of-place, ridiculous, and unbelievable makes as much sense as saying the same thing about any of the movies which set Shakespeare plays in the modern day; that is, no sense at all.

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[–] Speeeeed 8 years ago

I understand that people in the 40s/50s didn't talk the way many of the film noir characters did.

But the 40s movies' fast talking hardboiled expressions were thrown in here and there rather than having almost every line filled with them like they were in Brick. That's why there were a bit more believable and easier to follow.

Also, they were usually spoken by adults well past high school with lots of life experience using jargon that cops, gangsters, prostitutes, bargirls etc often used.

One other problem I had with Brick was that nobody throughout the movie showed any emotion aside from being jaded, suspicious, scowling, and giving each other the dead stare.

Doesn't anyone ever laugh, joke, show charm or flash a real smile anymore? Actually, I can say this about most movies being made these days.

[–] BrendanFrye 11 years ago

I think Rian Johnson was literally trying to take characters from a 1940's noir and plop them in a high school setting, with a few adjustments - like the milk and cookies scene, which is brilliant. But anyways, I loved the dialogue, it really made me pay attention to the the movie. I often found myself trying to decipher one odd phrase while three others were being thrown at me. It's engaging, and different.

[–] fastoutfield 11 years ago

And not only the characters. The final revelation is lifted directly from Hammett's Maltese Falcon.

[–] XCopoutX_16 10 years ago

Here's how a conversation between Brendan and his mom would go:

[Mom]: Hi honey, how was school today?
[Brendan]: Look, Mom, I'm not heeling you to hook you so laid off. You're scratching at the wrong door
[Mom]: Honey? Is everything okay?
[Brendan]: If you haven't got a finger in my troubles then you better get while it's good.
[Mom]: Sweetie, I don't understand why you're talking like that.
[Brendan]: Heel it now, dig?
[Mom]: Oh that reminds me, pumpkin, your father needs you to help dig out the garden this spring, he's not getting any younger since his back surgery.
[Brendan]: throw one at me if you want, hash head. I got all 5 senses and I slept last night. that puts me six up on the lot of you.
[Mom]: Well...You can just go to your room. RIGHT NOW, YOUNG MAN. YOU'RE GROUNDED!!!
[Brendan]: I know where you eat lunch.

(......AND SCENE!!!)

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] grg216 8 years ago

Exact conclusion I came to- I have a difficult time believing high-school kids, especially the intellectual level portrayed would speak this way,using cryptic slang; just the opposite, not having the time or inclination to cipher out the meaning of every hip-termed phrase they would more likely get right to the point. I enjoyed watching none the less.

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[–] CptHowdy87 8 years ago

I was thinking about watching this movie very soon and I'm glad I came across this thread first and that it was spoiler free. Thank you to everyone who contributed!