MELISSA BLOCK, Host:
Our critic, Bob Mondello, was skeptical, but, eventually, he was won over.
BOB MONDELLO: As with any good noir film, we begin with a corpse, blonde, attractive, lying in a storm drain, except that it's not night or raining or glistening with neon. Everything is bright and suburban, and the blonde, Emily, is a teenager. So is her ex-boyfriend, Brendan, who tries, with a nerdy high-school buddy, to puzzle out what she was trying to tell him in her last phone call.
(SOUNDBITE OF BRICK)
JOSEPH GORDON: Unidentified Man: Brick?
LEVITT: Unidentified Man: Or bad brick?
LEVITT: Unidentified Man: Tug?
LEVITT: Unidentified Man: Por frisco?
LEVITT: Unidentified Man: Pin?
LEVITT: END SOUNDBITE
MONDELLO: Unidentified Man: Dope-runner, right?
LEVITT: Big time.
BLOCK: END SOUNDBITE
MONDELLO: START MOVIE CLIP
BLOCK: I thought we had orange juice, Brendan. I'm sorry. How about some Tang? No, that's more like soda, isn't it?
LEVITT: Unidentified Woman: Oh, wait a minute. We have apple juice here if you'd like that.
LEVITT: Unidentified Woman: It's country style.
LEVITT: Unidentified Woman: And I'll even give it to you in a little country glass. How about that? Okay, well, I'm going to go sit in the other room.
LUKAS HAAS: END SOUNDBITE
MONDELLO: I'm Bob Mondello. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.