can we see a picture of your Red Brick fireplace??? or you could have a look at the 7.285 images of red brick fireplaces on Houzz.....maybe make an ideabook and see what you would like??

I tend to lean towards anything rustic so I hate to see brick painted. It's hard to say exactly how to update since I'm not quite sure what yours looks like.
Maybe you could update items around it, like the mantle?
If you have to paint it, maybe you could use nice wood pillars on either side, kindof like frame the fireplace and paint those too, or stain them, depending on the color you would want to paint the fireplace.
I'm trying to think of things that aren't too expensive.
What about adding a white wash to the bricks? It would brighten up the natural brick but it would still show though.
I just saw an episode of House Crashers and they updated a brick fireplace by doing a mosaic over it. They used black gloss marble, broke it into pieces and put it together like a giant jig saw puzzle. Then they used a dark gray grout. It was a nice contrast.
Just my two cents.....