DVD Review: The Kid Detective

The Kid Detective

(DVD Kid)

 

This one was an entertaining surprise. I hadn’t heard anything about it, prior to seeing the DVD show up in the library. Initially, I thought it might be about a kid who’d been an actor, playing a pre-teen sleuth in his own childhood, still trying to live up to that “image”. But, no, in The Kid Detective, Adam Brody plays Abe Applebaum — a man in his late thirties or early forties — who is coasting through a pointless life, never able to recapture the glory of when he was a pre-teen prodigy who actually solved mysteries! He was even set up with an office by the Mayor, and the mayor’s pre-teen daughter served as his secretary. But his days of tripping up liars, revealing the locations of lost items, and identifying who stole something from his school, came to an abrupt end when his secretary disappears and no-one — not the cops and not the Kid Detective — could figure out what ever happened to her. He’s still haunted by that failure to this day.

 

Now, Abe continues to work as a private detective, solving picayune problems and using drink and drugs to dull his disappointment in life. But all that may change, when a young woman hires him to help determine who brutally murdered her boyfriend. Adam Brody’s performance is mesmerizing…equal parts deadpan and self-pitying. Sarah Sutherland as his client, Lucy, was intriguing downplayed. The actors as Abe’s parents are marvelous, particularly in some humor-and-pathos-filled moments as they try to prevent Abe from making a fool of himself.

 

The Kid Detective is a mystery, wrapped in movie about self-discovery and redemption. It is both comedy and tragedy. It was an unexpected treat and I strongly recommend it. To say more about the plot details would be to spoil the unveiling of all the surprises that are in store for you.

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film ) | ( official The Kid Detective Facebook page )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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