It can sometimes be hard to remember how different the pandemic was before the vaccine. While things are still far from how they were pre-2020, it's now much less risky to congregate in crowded places like movie theaters. Those who took the quarantine at least somewhat seriously didn't see a film on the big screen for at least a few months, leaving some to wonder if the last movie they would see in a theater would be Sonic The Hedgehog.
Thankfully, theaters began to reopen that summer, and audiences got the chance to see some big new releases like In The Heights, Bill & Ted Face the Music, and Tenet. Film festivals, like the Toronto International Film Festival held in September, could even have limited-capacity in-person screenings. The respite from isolation turned out to be temporary, however, as the Delta and Omicron variants of the COVID-19 virus emerged. After the aforementioned TIFF, another pandemic wave began to rear its ugly head. This was unfortunate for The Kid Detective, a film that began its national theatrical release in the US on October 16, 2020, after an impressive showing at TIFF.
Despite acclaim from critics and audiences, the film flopped commercially, raking in only $140,218 during its opening weekend. In a just world, The Kid Detective would receive another theatrical run to redeem itself. It's unlikely to happen, but let's take at why this unique dark comedy mystery deserves a second chance.
The Kid Detective Is Hilarious, Yet Compelling
With The Kid Detective, writer-director Evan Morgan pulled off an impressive balancing act. The film manages to be hilarious while also telling a satisfying neo-noir mystery story. Morgan's debut could have easily been a simple parody of the Encyclopedia Brown books that inspired it, yet it is so much more.
This is not to say the film isn't funny, but rather that it mixes comedy and drama with an ease that would be impressive for a seasoned filmmaker to pull off, let alone one directing their first feature. This isn't Morgan's first rodeo (he co-wrote the 2013 cult favorite, The Dirties, with the film's director, Matt Johnson). However, it's still astounding that he made a murder mystery comedy on the level of Knives Out this early in his career, albeit with a much smaller budget and cast.
Adam Brody's incredible performance is really what keeps the film a cohesive whole as it oscillates between comedy and drama. On-screen for most of the movie, Brody's acting abilities are on full display here, dynamically changing to fit the tone of the scene. Brody fully gives himself to the part of the titular detective, Abe Applebaum. Whether it's immediately giving up on questioning the head of a biker gang after a rejection in a moment of hilarious cowardice or solemnly promising the family of a murdered teenager that he will find out what happened to their child, Brody's commitment to the role provides the film's core.
The Kid Detective Is the Ultimate 'Former Gifted Kid' Movie
Adam Brody's casting also provides a metatextual element to the whole project. A former teen heartthrob, Brody is still most well-known as Seth Cohen from Fox's The O.C. Somewhat similarly, Abe Applebaum is a former "kid detective," still trying to be a private investigator many years after it stopped being cute. Abe is depicted as a brilliant loser, both overly arrogant about his cognitive abilities and constantly underestimating himself. With Abe as the film's protagonist, The Kid Detective joins the discourse about the so-called "former gifted kid" archetype.
Abe is constantly chasing the high of the approval he got from adults as a child and turns to drugs and self-pity when he doesn't receive praise for merely existing. The film joins the growing subgenre of belated coming-of-age movies where the main character finally grows up long after they should have. Ultimately, The Kid Detective portrays Abe as a sympathetic person but also someone who is relatively sheltered and self-sabotaging.
The Kid Detective's Ending Truly Sets It Apart
This section contains spoilers for the ending of The Kid Detective and discusses sensitive subjects relating to abuse. To avoid either, skip to the last paragraph of the article.
It would be impossible to talk about the qualities that make The Kid Detective such a stand-out film without addressing the ending. The movie takes a dramatic tonal shift in its final act, with Abe finally solving the central murder mystery and the disappearance of his childhood assistant in a disturbing twist. In a lesser film, the reveal of the principal's murder and abuse would feel like a cheap attempt to shock the audience, but The Kid Detective earns this dark turn.
While it takes place in the modern day, much of the film's production design and setting give it this mid-century Americana feel, with a very Lynchian underbelly barely hidden underneath. With the ending, Evan Morgan brings the horrific to the forefront, reminding us how brutal violence can be, especially towards women. The Kid Detective is a stark reminder that behind all the fun genre trappings of murder mysteries are monstrous people committing heinous acts, despite how desensitized we have become.
The Kid Detective's humor, drama, themes, and ending would all be made even more impactful in a movie theater. Almost everyone who has seen this film watched it at home, which is a shame. While it works in any context, watching this movie on a big screen would make both the laughs and emotions hit harder. Not to sound too much like that silly Nicole Kidman AMC ad, but there is something truly special about movie theaters, and it would be a treat to see a film this good in the best way possible.