‘The Kid Detective’ DVD Review: A Dark Comedy That Keeps You Engaged

When I was a kid, there was a book series and a television series called Encyclopedia Brown. The series revolved around a young boy who was very intelligent and would solve small mysteries around his town and impress the townsfolk with his expansive knowledge. 

The Kid Detective is a witty comedy that picks up where that scenario leaves off. Abe Applebaum was a genius detective as a kid and was the toast of the town. Now, he is a fully grown adult (played by The OC’s Adam Brody), and life is not going so well. After solving childhood mysteries like who stole cookies from the cookie jar, he failed to solve some high-profile crimes like a missing classmate, and it has thrown off his whole legacy and confidence. His is a semi-alcoholic and the last person you would trust to solve a real crime. Then a woman walks into his life to hire him to figure out who murdered her boyfriend.

This movie is a lot of fun. Abe tries to act confident as he would have been in his youth, but it is easy to see through it. You don’t really believe that he could be up to this task. We see some of his bravado return along the way, but this case is way beyond anything he has done before and might be beyond his abilities after all.

The Kid Detective is what would be called a dark comedy. It has a fair amount of light-hearted comedy (which Brody pulls off well) and old-fashioned gumshoe humor, but it also gets very serious at times. This holds true towards the end of the film where it is much more serious. 

The story moves along very quickly, and there is enough comedy to keep you entertained. Perhaps the best quality is that nothing seems entirely predictable. Just like Abe, you are kept guessing the solution to the crime up until the very end. That makes it worth it to fans of whodunnit crime films.

The Kid Detective is an enjoyable dark comedy that keeps you engaged throughout. I think you’ll have a lot of fun watching it. The movie is available on Blu-ray and DVD now from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.