An excerpt from my script review for Brick which will be available 02/01/16:
2.) Plot Stability
The story plays out like a detective novel.
One word. Fun.
It’s good, and if you don’t think too hard about a high school kid knowing exactly where to go, it’s fun and fast paced.
Page 11 – Mysterious party invite after an ex girlfriend disappears.
Page 28 – Ex girlfriend shows up, saying everything’s fine, but our detective knows something’s up, especially when she turns up dead the next day.
Page 54 – Detective finds “the boss” secretly figuring out where he’s at, and offers to double cross the “good guys”.
Page 63 – Mysterious hit man shows up attacking the detective, and we’re wondering who sent him.
Page 78 – Detective has been working all along to find out who killed his ex girlfriend, but it turns out “the boss” doesn’t genuinely know she’s dead…pointing to his second in command.
Page 82 – We find out the ex was pregnant! Stakes upped!
Page 97 – Big showdown between all parties. One way or another someone ain’t coming out alive!
Page 110 – The detective sums everything up, and all the villains get their due.
The pacing of this script was bang on, new layer of the onion peeled back with each scene.
What Didn’t Work
Aside from a teenage kid knowing EXACTLY what to do and where to go at every step?
Page 15 – Brad bit was just confusing. He’s an idiot, but it’s unclear what larger role he plays in the Pin’s operation, and with Laura, aside from her tricking him? Into what? Brad’s the dummy you’d trust to distribute in a school?
Page 82 – I was unclear how Brendan was suddenly so sick. Was it lack of sleep? Due to the beatings from Tugger? From Brad? Crazy fever out of left field, that knocks him out a few times just for dramatic effect.
Page 101 – Brendan suddenly cares too much about Tugger and Pin, wanting them to work out their differences. He’s so smart for practically the entire script, but here he doesn’t know Tugger killed Emily? He should be plotting to take them both down, not accidentally escape letting them shoot each other.
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