Great adaptation of hardboiled novels+a note on dialogue

Just watched this film finally as it has been on my movie list for quite some time. I thought it was a great neo-noir film that convincingly used hardboiled detective tropes in a contemporary high school setting. It was fun to see all the cliched characters and plot developments (femme fatales, drugs, baby scandals, red herrings, etc) unravel in a rather unique treatment of the genre.

I notice on the board, plus could have presumed such would be the case, that a lot of people struggle with the dialogue. I admit it took me about 10 minutes to get into the film and its style. I too had trouble comprehending what the characters were saying, so I paused the film and read the FAQ on Slang so I would actually understand the words being spoken. After that I had no problem and really enjoyed how the dialogue increased the mood of the film and mirrored slang from noir films. Obviously if you cannot understand what is being said, you won't be able to follow or enjoy the film, so I would suggest anyone unfamiliar with phrases from 1930s detective novels or ESL who is struggling with that component of the film just read the slang index before hand. :)