History Film / Brick

* TotallyRadical: Perhaps the strangest [[InvertedTrope inversion]] of this in history. The characters are modern day teenagers who all speak like hardboiled characters in a Dashiel Hammett P.I. story. Hilariously [[JustifiedTrope justified]] by the fact that Mrs. Kasprzyk, a "tough but fair" teacher, is teaching this manner of speech in "Accelerated English" classes.

* TotallyRadical: Perhaps the strangest version of this in history. The characters are modern day teenagers who all speak like hardboiled characters in a Dashiel Hammett P.I. story. Hilariously [[JustifiedTrope justified]] by the fact that Mrs. Kasprzyk, a "tough but fair" teacher, is teaching this manner of speech in "Accelerated English" classes.

* TotallyRadical: Perhaps the strangest version of this in history. The characters are modern day teenagers who all speak like hardboiled characters in a Dashiel Hammett P.I. story.

* AdultsAreUseless: Played straight. The only adults we ever see on screen are the Vice-Principal, who depends on Brendan to tell him what's going on, and the Pin's mom, who's either totally oblivious to her son's business or doesn't care. Laura's mom is there at the party, but we see just enough of her to make it clear that she's completely hands-off.

* WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief: Why are modern teens talking like hard-boiled [=PIs=] and [[FemmeFatale Femmes Fatale]]? [[RuleOfCool Hey]], [[MST3KMantra just roll with it.]]

* TheChanteuse: Laura. Although she doesn't sing, she does recite a poem for her party guests.

Take FilmNoir, a generous dose of high school intrigue, a dash of Creator/DavidLynch, and toss them all into a blender. What you get is probably going to be ''Brick''. [[{{Metaphorgotten}} That, or charges for the murder of David Lynch.]]

* EarnYourHappyEnding: A bittersweet one, at least. [[spoiler: After getting beat to hell a couple times, getting in a half dozen fights, outsmarting another few folks high up on the food chain, and surviving the first shots of a potential gang war, Brendan finally gets to rest knowing that he punished the people that were behind Emily's murder.]]

* EnemyCivilWar: [[spoiler: Pin has a falling out with Tug over Dode’s murder.]]
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: [[spoiler: The Pin, whose mom serves corn flakes and apple juice to him and his criminal associates]].

** Curtis, a junkie with a knife, attacks Brendan halfway through the movie. While it first looks like it might be [[spoiler: the Pin or Dode]], Brain reveals at the end he was hired by [[spoiler: Brad after his fight with Brendan.]]

** Kara, an drama club ex-girlfriend of Brendan’s, is a more upfront example as her manipulative nature and use of sexuality to make boys (particularly freshmen according to Brendan) into her lapdogs is something Brendan is well aware of from the start of the movie.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler: In the beginning, when Emily calls Brendan she already mentions a girl who told her to deal with the brick.]] If you notice the cast, aside from [[spoiler: Em,]] there's only one girl that's really involved in the action.
* FramingTheGuiltyParty: Brendan has Brain call the police and tell them drugs are in Tug's car. [[spoiler: He's actually put Emily's dead body in the trunk.]]

* InstantDeathBullet: Played straight with [[spoiler:Dode]], who falls dead immediately. Subverted with a random {{mook}}, however, who manages to stumble into a room full of characters and explain [[spoiler:the last brick has been stolen]] before finally dying.

* MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot: Murder isn't exactly a ''minor'' crime, but Emily's death is entirely incidental to [[spoiler: Laura's]] plan

* PoliceAreUseless: {{Averted}}. Brendan is keeping things quiet not because he doesn't think the police can catch Emily's killer, but because he wants to find "who put her in front of the gun." Towards the end he makes it pretty clear that the cops could have easily found [[spoiler:the perpetrator, Tug]], and he plans to use them to roust the drug ring.

* PragmaticEvil: The Pin is really unhappy with how much unnecessary violence Tug keeps perpetuating in their business. [[spoiler: After Tug kills Dode, The Pin decides he’s gone a bridge too far and cuts him loose.]]

* SmokingHotSex: It’s not entirely clear if they did have sex but Emily is shown in bed smoking with Brendan. It becomes a major plot point.

* TheStarscream: [[spoiler:Laura has been sabotaging the Pin’s drug operation so he and Tug could eventually turn on each other and she could take over the operation. She nearly succeeds, but Brendan turns her into the VP before she can enjoy her victory.]]