Review: THE KID DETECTIVE is a charming, startling, dark-comedy

by Charles Gerian

“It's difficult to accept the difference between who you are in your head and who you are in the world.”

Sony Pictures’ THE KID DETECTIVE released in October of 2020 and has since made its way to rent via Amazon Prime or purchase on DVD/Bluray, and those that take the time to absorb this dark, comedic mystery-thriller are sure to walk away with their head spinning and their stomach at their ankles.

THE KID DETECTIVE stars Adam Brody (The O.C., Jennifer’s Body) as Abe Applebaum, an early-30’s hungover burnout who was once a famous Hardy Boys-esque kid detective in his sleepy lakeside town solving kitschy mysteries like who took the school’s fundraiser money, or busting a gang of hoodlums. Abe earns the love of the town, and his face and cutesy adventures are immortalized as the town embraces their cute little hero...until his secretary, fellow tween Gracie, is kidnapped and never found.

Falling out of grace with a town that wishes to sweep their darkness under their Mayberry-esque rug, Abe is tossed aside, and his life as an adult seems far from the rose-tinted ambition and promise it once held.

Never aging out of his cutesy occupation, Abe still operates out of his detective agency on Main Street, solving petty cases of lost cats and missing birthday gifts between bouts of drug and booze-addled recoveries and early morning glasses of whiskey...until a high school girl presents him with his first “adult” case of discovering who brutally murdered her boyfriend, setting in motion a disturbing case and a journey as heart-warming as it is gut-wrenching.

THE KID DETECTIVE shares many similarities with 2019’s UNDER THE SILVER LAKE as a neo-noir detective film that puts pulpy schlock through a bizarre wringer of aimless thirty-something sleuths with white-tees, blazers, and unkempt hair. While KID DETECTIVE never goes as far into the left field surrealism as SILVER LAKE, it swaps Hollywood death cults for something more sinister in a pay-off that will leave you wide-eyed.

The film has its laugh-out-loud moments as Abe and his client, young Caroline (Sophie Nélisse, The Book Thief) have their banter between his cynical dread and her droll naivete as they descend down a madcap rabbit-hole of dusty bars, street gangs, jealous nerds, and drug dealers. There’s a recurring gag in the movie that takes advantage of the often seen “hide in the closet when the homeowner returns” trope that delivers some of the film’s more wholesome laughs, but that all becomes a distant memory as the film ventures into darker and darker territory that I would hate to spoil.

Adam Brody delivers a multilayered performance here, and as I mentioned his banter and touching chemistry with young co-star Nelisse takes a lot to appreciate. Their interactions are handled delicately as he becomes an unexpected mentor figure to her.

For a first time writer-director such as Evan Morgan, to create something so razor sharp and to be so precise with a tight-wire act of tonal balance sis nothing short of a miracle. Expect to see this artist sky-rocket in the years to come.

I highly recommend THE KID DETECTIVE. Easily going to be on my Top 10 list for the year.