Brick


Rating = B+

This movie is cleverly done, although I suspect some film noir fans will reject it. If ``Clueless'' a decade ago was Jane Austin 's Emma updated to ``Valley girls'' in high school, this movie is Dashiell Hammett and bits of the ``Maltese Falcon'' movie updated to another contemporary California high school. I particularly enjoyed Sam-Spade-like tough talk by the teenage characters incongruously juxtaposed with lines like, ``I'll see you at the next parent-teachers meeting.''

[2006-04-18]