Brick

Earlier this week, I went to see 'Brick'. This is the Film Theatre's description:

"True to its designation as Twin Peaks scripted by Raymond Chandler, Brick is and honest mystery, mounting a series of clues, twists and red herrings before hitting a mind-reeling climax. The characters are all from the ranks of an elaborate, school social scene. The excellent Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the high-school loner Brendon [sic], gets drawn into the disappearance and death of his ex-girlfriend. Certainly, this year's Donnie Darko. "

Here's my review:

Brick is a pretentious attempt at an original film, which fails miserably at trying to surprise or entertain. None of the characters, who are supposedly in school at least for part of the day, act or talk like high school pupils, and although Joseph Gordon-Levitt acts well, he seems more like a 45-year-old 'copper fallen from grace' than a confused and hurt high school kid. There are some good jokes about the fact that these people are supposed to be kids, but that's all there is to make the film more interesting. Or, no, sorry, I lie: there was a really muscly guy and J G-L does scruffy well. Nonetheless, I couldn't stop from letting my mind wander during the film, and this is where it wandered: 'If this Brendan guy turns out to be an undercover cop this would be like a really long, boring episode of 21 Jump Street'

So I guess it really depends on who you believe - Ken Branagh's crew or me. Mind you, I haven't seen Donnie Darko, so maybe we are saying the same thing...