On Scott's recommendation, Vikki and I got Brick from Netflix and watched it a few days back.  Then watched it again. 

If you like film noir, Brick is a no-brainer. 

The basic vision of the film (and it won a Sundance prize for originality of vision) is that of a classic Hammet-esque noir film, but set in a Southern Californian High School.  No, really.  And it's brilliant.  The actors all obviously got it.  There's nothing farcical or comic about the performances.  They all believe in the vision.  Which isn't to say that there aren't funny moments (such as the hero meeting with the most dangerous drug dealer in town while his Mom serves them juice and cookies) but they are funny as part of the plot, not because of the aesthetic of the film. 

Solid performances all around, and some great dialog.  The dialog is heavily spiked with both gumshoe and pseudo-modern-teen argot, so turning on the subtitles helps follow the story the first time through. 

There's a lot of depth here, especially for a directorial debut, and I think this is a film I'll go back and watch over and over again.