Synopsis
After a phone call from his ex-girlfriend, teenage loner Brendan Frye learns that her dead body was found. Vowing to solve her murder himself, he must infiltrate high-school cliques that he previously avoided. His search for the truth brings him before some of the school’s roughest characters.
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Cast
- Joseph Gordon-LevittBrendan
- Emilie de RavinEmily
- Nora ZehetnerLaura
- Lukas HaasThe Pin
- Noah FleissTugger
- Matt O'LearyThe Brain
- Noah SeganDode
- Meagan GoodKara
- Brian J. WhiteBrad Bramish
- Richard RoundtreeAssistant V.P. Trueman
Recommendations
- 91
The A.V. Club
Manages to be visually arresting, packed with geeky allusions to everything from Raymond Chandler to "Blue Velvet." - 90
Film Threat
With brilliant dialogue out of the 1940s and graceful visuals that add depth to the dark comedy, Johnson debuts with a smart, self-assured feature that portrays adolescence like no other film has. - 80
The New Yorker
All in all, this twerpy little movie is one of the most entertaining pictures to be released so far this year. - 80
The Hollywood Reporter
The mean streets don't get any nastier than the high school parking lots in this cool-crafted mystery. - 75
Rolling Stone
"Sensational" is the word for Joseph Gordon-Levitt (equally striking in Mysterious Skin), who stars as Brendan, the teen outsider who becomes a budding Bogart. - 70
New York Magazine (Vulture)
Writer-director Rian Johnson gives the usual teen angst an entertaining kick. But the joke wears off, and what's left is as convoluted and monotonous as any conventional hard-boiled mystery. - 70
Variety
The story, while derivative, isn't half bad, and the picture gains in finesse and confidence to the point where Johnson more or less pulls off his peril-fraught exercise. - 70
Chicago Reader
It's worth seeing for the tightly coiled plot, well-realized characters, and novel take on rapacious teen culture.
