Really?
I still like Joseph Gordon-Levitt (dude is gonna be big after Inception hits) and some of the scenes were funny, but I had no idea what they were saying and had to fast-forward through most of this to get some closure.
Wait so you fast-forwarded through most of the movie yet somehow found closure? That makes no sense. I'm 22, loved the film, and had no trouble keeping up with it. Perhaps Transformers would be more your speed?
Is the Transformers line just another Godwins Law for some film buffs now? Because it's really getting old and cliche.
shareWhy do you have to be a jerk just because the poster couldn't follow what was being said? They didn't insult the film, they didn't insult its fans, they just asked if anyone else had trouble understanding it.
shareOH BURN!
shareAnyone over 20? I'd say those under 20 are more likely to not "get" or disklike this movie.
It's a masterpiece. The cinematography, the language, the music, it's pure perfection.
You're not alone. I'm 20 and I really enjoy it in terms of it's cinematography, music, acting, sound work, etc. However, I find myself not being able to understand it.
I even rewound the film to see what it is I'm missing, but I just really didn't understand what the characters were saying. I think it's because I don't "know" that environment and wasn't part of that kind of crowd in high school. Maybe that's it? I don't know. Keep in mind, I like noir films like this such as The Maltese Falcon.
I really respect it on a technical level. I mean the lighting is just amazing. I might have to watch it a few more times to understand it.
My wife and I (28/29 respectively) watched this last night and also turned it off halfway through. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy it, but I also didn't understand most of what they were saying. The words were English, but the way they were speaking was just bizarre. We picked up important details here and there, but not most of it.
We turned it off when he was talking to the VP like he was talking to a police chief... I didn't understand the context in which a kid would be talking to a principle like that, and figured I was missing more than I thought and should just turn it off.
The words were English, but the way they were speaking was just bizarre. We picked up important details here and there, but not most of it.
I'm well beyond 20, but thankfully my hearing isn't gone yet, so hearing and understanding hasn't been a problem. After the first couple of minutes I got beyong the mumbliness, but I thought the dialogue was excellent. It's always nice to have a movie script not contain a constant stream of one liners shouted loudly.
shareYeah, I'm well beyond 20 and was surprised "take a powder", "duck soup", "blow" and "clam" are considered archaic. Loved the acting, plot and dialog. As mentioned in other threads http://www.rcjohnso.com/BrickScript.html has shooting script and novella.
shareDidn't get all the 'code-words' lol. There were scenes where I really didn't understand ANYTHING they were saying! I'm 18 btw
Regular Joe is the greatest young actor in Hollywood
Im glad im not the only one. Im 21 and i applaud the film for certain aspects but i couldnt engage with what was being said, i felt i was on the outside trying to keep up a lot of the time. The characters were brilliant but were not well established and i couldnt remember who was involved with who. A good effort but ultimately 6/10. Just couldnt fully engage with the film
shareI'm glad I read this thread. I loved this movie, but was not always sure what was going on. I have a significant hearing loss (especially in my left ear) and missed a lot of the dialog. I chalked it up to bad sound design, not necessarily bad acting or bad dialog. I have a great 5.1 surround sound system (Harman/kardon), but couldn't really crank it up because of the downstairs neighbors. I was tempted to use the subtitles, but didn't. Now I wish I had.
"She's, like, a biscuit older than me..."
I'm 27. Someone just introduced me to this movie and I found it to be incredibly boring and... I'll be honest, I have no idea what it was even about. (I kind of kept spacing out because it was so dull.)
Honestly, though the movie was obviously professionally done and starred that kid from 3rd Rock From the Sun, it just has this really unprofessional tone about it that feels like the kind of movie those wannabe amateur filmmakers you knew in high school used to make.
I haven't seen many of this type of movie but I have nothing against the concept of the film noir style. (Let's see... Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid was great. And I recently learned that that was made with a mashup of scenes from a bunch of film noir classics so I've been exposed to those in that way, at least.) I understand the style enough to know that the plot isn't supposed to make sense and the entire point of it is supposed to be well-written rapid-fire dialogue (with puns and double entendres, whenever possible).
It didn't feel like the people who worked on this movie really understood the concept though. I'm not sure how to explain it... I think perhaps they were trying to take their convoluted plot too seriously, so it just didn't feel right and came across wrong.
The one scene that really stuck out at me in the whole movie was the part where he's in the dark attic with the mirror reflecting light from outside (which was pretty cool by the way) and that one tough guy was yelling at him. That scene represents both the best and the worst that the movie has to offer, in my opinion. The lighting made it a really cool scene, but the dialogue was just... cheesy (not in a good way) and overacted.
Im 52. Extremely enjoyed it. Try watching some old film noirs, the best being (in my opinion) The Maltese Falcon. Then try Blue Velvet (neo-noir) and maybe you'll get the concept here. Brick is neo-noir.
It's a good movie. I believe suspension of disbelief is what is needed here, as it is set in high school. I bought this movie not knowing what I was getting and was enjoyably surprised to see that it was set in noir style. I found it to be an interesting concept.
Swing away, Merrill....Merrill, swing away...share
Thanks, moosefeathers. I'm 43 and my husband is 53, and this is exactly how we felt. After watching the movie last night we mapped out the characters as they would have been in a classic noir film (e.g., mobsters, cops, gun moll, cabaret actress, straight man, guy who somehow knows everything, etc...). The dialogue was often fast and witty, but extremely sophisticated. I feel that being under 20 would actually put you at a disadvantage for understanding the dialogue. The slang was fairly easily understandable given the context.
I'm not saying that this is the greatest film ever made, but I liked it and thought it was provocative. I would classify it in the same way that so many directors are making anachronistic versions of Shakespeare; an old time gangster plot set in a modern high school framework.
First time I saw this I couldn't understand a damn thing and rated it a 2. But I had just watched it again tonight with the subtitles on and I was into it. Amended score-8. Still don't understand their lingo though.
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