Brick

Unspooled

Paul Scheer & Amy Nicholson

Film Reviews, Tv & Film

4.6 • 4.7K Ratings

🗓️ 11 December 2025

⏱️ 76 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Paul and Amy step into the shadowy hallways of Brick, exploring how Rian Johnson fused hard-boiled noir with high school drama to create one of the most striking debuts of the 2000s. They also delve into Johnson’s meticulous planning, the film’s tight-budget and ingenuity, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s transformative performance. You can join the Unspooled conversation on Paul’s Discord at https://discord.gg/ZwtygZGTa6 Follow Paul and Amy on Letterboxd for more of their movie hot takes! https://letterboxd.com/paulscheer/ https://letterboxd.com/theamynicholson/ Paul’s book Joyful Recollections of Trauma is out now! Find it at https://www.harpercollins.com/products/joyful-recollections-of-trauma-paul-scheer Check out more of Paul's writing on his Substack https://substack.com/@paulscheer Episodic Art by Kim Troxall: https://www.unspooledart.com/ Learn more about the show at Unspooledpod.com, follow us on Twitter @unspooled and on Instagram @unspooledpod, and don’t forget to rate, review & subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or where you listen to podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The year is 2005.
0:03.0	All right, you got me. I'm a scout for the gophers.
0:06.6	Been watching your game for a month, but that story right there just clenched it.
0:10.4	You got heart, kid. How soon can you be in Minneapolis?
0:14.0	Yeah?
0:14.8	Cold winners, but they got a great public transit system.
0:18.3	Yeah?
0:19.2	Yeah.
0:20.0	Oh, yeah?
0:21.5	There's a desaurus in the library. Yeah's under Y. Yeah? Yeah. Oh, yeah? There's a phesaurus
0:22.5	in the library. Yeah, as under Y.
0:24.5	Good, I'll wait.
0:25.1	The movie.
0:26.5	Brick.
0:29.6	Oh, uh, so.
0:32.6	Oh.
0:33.6	Oh.
0:33.6	Hello, everyone, and welcome to Unspooled.
0:44.5	Welcome to Unspooled. This is a podcast about good movies, critical hits, fan favorites, mustsies, and in case you missed them.
0:51.8	We have covered the AFI top 100, and now we are checking off movies from three major lists.
0:57.0	The Letterbox top 250 films are the most fans, the IMDB top 250, and the New York Times 1,000 essential films.
1:05.2	And we will also be chasing our own curiosity, too.
	...

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