Brick (2005)

In this neo-noir set at a California high school, loner Joseph Gordon-Levitt battles against school’s drug ring to investigate the details of his ex-girlfriend’s disappearance. It contains many of the expected noir features: jazzy soundtrack, femme fatales, lost blondes, slow moving fans, and the detective being knocked out multiple times. it also includes quite a convoluted plot with bread crumbs being thrown left and right that don’t always lead straight to the conclusion. I probably would have liked this a lot more if I hadn’t watched The Kid Detective fairly recently. That film handled shifts in tone infinitely better and the teenagers seemed more realistic which gave me greater entertainment value.