The Kid Detective pays cheeky homage to noir films with an engaging mystery, sharp writing, and deeply funny, acerbic wit. Adam Brody (Ready or Not, The O.C.) is Abe Applebaum, a child prodigy who grew up solving minor crimes for his adoring, small town of Willowbrook—until the sudden disappearance of a classmate traumatizes the community. Twenty years on, Abe is a jaded, broken, would-be sleuth, who’s just been handed a case that may lead him on a path of discovery and redemption.
Those plot mechanics are ripped straight from a 1940s noir playbook, but brilliantly updated by writer and first-time director, Evan Morgan. Morgan’s chief success is his incredible handle of tone: the writing is seeped in a dry, dark humor that never overpowers the story. He delivers a fun and clever send up of classic detective tropes without descending into a half-baked recreation or total parody of the genre. Instead, Morgan skillfully tips his hat toward those noir hallmarks, relying upon our expectations of noir conventions to surprise and delight us.
Brody is critical to that tonal balance of the film. He can tap into an emotional detachment that never feels rote or irritating. A depressed, intelligent private eye could be a dangerously one-note character or grate audiences with post-earnest, Millennial malaise. Brody avoids these pitfalls and strikes the right balance of snark and empathy, playing Abe with a wonderful mixture of regret, exasperation, and longing.
At the center of the entertaining character work is Morgan’s twisty, compelling mystery. It’s the best kind of whodunit: convoluted enough to not be predictable, but also never cheating the audience by introducing unforeseen, logic-breaking information at the last minute. The best mysteries artfully sprinkle breadcrumbs throughout the story, enough to maintain plausible deniability that the audience could have guessed where this was going, and rewards on repeat viewings.
This low-key charmer is the perfect antidote for anyone decrying the bombast of big-budget blockbusters. The further we’ve moved from theaters as the only avenue to release a movie, the more often a smaller, under-marketed film slips through the cracks. And yes, the democratization of streaming allows for more films from previously-marginalized voices, but it does mean dedicated audiences might have to dig harder to find unknown—but very worthy—quantities like The Kid Detective.
The Kid Detective is available to stream on Starz and available to rent on Amazon Prime. It runs 100 minutes and is rated R for language, drug use, some sexual references, brief nudity and violence.
