Rent The Kid Detective on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Evan Morgan
Directed by: Evan Morgan
Starring: Adam Brody, Sophie Nélisse, Tzi Ma, Wendy Crewson, Sarah Sutherland
Rated: R
Watch the trailer
Plot
A once-celebrated kid detective, now thirty-two, continues to solve the same trivial mysteries between hangovers and bouts of self-pity until a naive client brings him his first 'adult' case; find out who brutally murdered her boyfriend.
Verdict
It's different take on the detective genre, starting with the inspiring kid detective and looking at him twenty years later where he's no longer all that cute while solving the case of the missing cat. This has such a dark sense of humor but ends with such a harrowing thought. Before the final scene, it felt like the movie didn't quite have enough. The last moment is a reminder of stark realities.
Watch it.
Review
It's a different perspectibve on the detective genre, and in that regard it reminds me of Brick. I love the premise of this. How many books involve a precocious kid detective that solves outlandish crimes. This looks at what happens when that kid grows up. Abe Applebaum (Adam Brody) is having a rough go of it, and this cuts back to his ridiculous stint as a successful kid detective, his future bright. Abe was revered as a kid but he's now scorned as an adult. Failure will do that.
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| Adam Brody plays Abe Applebaum |
What's cute as a kid wore off as he got older. That and he had a real case for which he wasn't suited. This script is fun with Abe as a has been detective that isn't very old. Abe takes on a murder case from Caroline (Sophie Nélisse) to prove everyone wrong. He reveals this to his father triumphantly, but his dad counters that Abe has no experience and he isn't a real detective.
I like the humor in this. Abe can be quite petty. When a kid won't answer his questions and insults him, Abe reveals a secret about the kid's father.
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| Adam Brody, Sophie Nélisse play Abe, Caroline |
Abe works a real case, but he does seem inept. His skills were honed in elementary school cases. He doesn't have any experience. He's still living his childhood dreams. Abe's not equipped for the real world, and this exploits all the usual tropes of the kid sleuth genre. We see Abe use the old hide in the closet routine a few times before reality sets in and the police catch him.
This is childhood fantasy meets reality. Abe faces the hard truth that he's someone who used to be famous. Despite that he somehow stumbles into a lead. While the pieces are there, how did he put them together? Abe takes a huge leap, but he may just be desperate. This gets way darker than I expected. It's a neat idea, but it can't quite sustain it. The way this ends, we think Abe has solved the case. He's gained respect and everyone believes him, but it was a difficult case. He wasn't prepared for the impact it would have. The movie leaves us with that bit of reality. Tracking these cases affects you, and it isn't easy. It's a sobering thought for a movie that has a twisted sense of humor.
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