If you’ve never heard of this movie, then you’re not alone. I had (very reluctantly) planned to see The War with Grandpa yesterday but I checked the theater listings desperately hoping to find something else to watch. Lo and behold, this was playing. I had never read a word about it, never saw a trailer, never saw a commercial, nothing. The Kid Detective has opened in theaters with less fanfare than the opening of an envelope, and that’s a damn shame because it’s a refreshingly original, funny and entertaining black comedy and easily one of my favorite films of the year.
Adam Brody stars as the oddly-named Abe Applebaum, who became a local celebrity as a kid because of his skills as a detective. He solved the kind of cases that you would expect a suburban kid to solve: finding missing cats, solving the case of the missing school fundraiser money, etc. Flash forward a couple of decades and Abe is now a washed-up, alcoholic in his 30s and still trying to operate as a private detective in his home town. When a local kid is stabbed to death, he gets a crack at the case and one last chance to prove that he isn’t just a drunken has-been. Imagine if the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew grew up to be failed alcoholics and you’re in the right ballpark.
The Kid Detective is kind of an odd variation on a coming-of-age story in that it takes place after the character has come of age and realizes that being an adult fucking sucks. Growing up usually means discarding childish shit like your hopes and dreams, but what if you actually remained dedicated to fulfilling them? Would the 12-year-old version of you then be less disappointed in what you’ve become by the time you’re 35? Most films would portray this in an uplifting fashion and show that such perseverance will only result in success. The Kid Detective shows the more realistic, albeit cynical, alternative. You would end up drinking bourbon for breakfast and hoping to get through the day without seeing the disappointed faces of your family.
That all sounds depressing, even though I find the themes fascinating, but the film is actually quite funny and an entertaining mystery. Unlike with Kajillionaire or The Broken Hearts Gallery, I literally laughed out loud several times during this. It is a mighty dark comedy, though, akin to something like Fargo in terms of tone. If you don’t like black comedy, then you will likely just find this sad and think that I’m a sick bastard for laughing. The murder mystery itself is also surprisingly well done, as that element could have easily played second fiddle to the comedic elements. It is actually a detective story with clues to find and leads to follow and it all comes to a satisfying, logical and bleak conclusion.
That conclusion, though, is likely to be a very divisive factor with this movie. This is a dark and cynical comedy, but that’s only true for about the first 75 minutes. The conclusion of this film is a whole different level of dark and it sure as hell aint funny. It gets pitch fucking black and I was not expecting the incredibly serious turn that this film takes in the last 15 minutes or so. Even though it is a logical conclusion to everything that has built up to it, the drastic shift in tone and downright disturbing final scenes worked for me, but will likely turn off many viewers. It is very difficult to discuss without spoiling it, so I will just leave it at that.
I often hear people complain about the lack of originality in modern film and that is cited as the reason why people now flock to original shows on Netflix, HBO, etc. I counter that there are original films, but nobody goes to see them and then they go see the latest Disney remake instead. This is one such film. If you like shows like Dexter, True Detective or (the tv version of ) Fargo, then I urge you to check out The Kid Detective. If you don’t, then at least don’t complain that there is nothing original playing in theaters when the remake of The Little Mermaid makes a billion dollars.
Image By: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kid_Detective#/media/File:The_Kid_Detective,_USA_film_poster,_2020.jpg
