It’s rare to find a movie that actually knows how it feels to be a failure. Not the Hollywood kind of failure where a gorgeous actor puts on a pair of glasses and sulks in a penthouse, but the real, stagnant, "I missed my window" kind of rot. The Kid Detective (2020) captures this perfectly. It’s a movie that masquerades as a quirky indie comedy for about twenty minutes before it slowly, methodically pulls the rug out from under you.
Adam Brody plays Abe Applebaum. He was the town’s hero at age twelve. He had a treehouse office, a secretary, and a town full of adults who humored his "investigations" into missing skateboards and stolen bake-sale money. He was a celebrity. But then a real crime happened—the disappearance of a girl named Gracie Gulliver—and he couldn't solve it. The movie picks up twenty years later, and Abe is still in that same office. He’s thirty-one, hungover, and still taking cases from kids who lost their cats.
It’s pathetic. It’s also brilliant.
Why The Kid Detective 2020 Hits Different Than Other Noir
Most modern noir films try too hard to be "gritty." They use heavy shadows and gravelly voiceovers to tell you how dark things are. Director Evan Morgan takes a different route. He keeps the lighting relatively flat and the setting looking like a mundane Canadian suburb. The horror isn't in the shadows; it's in the realization that life moved on for everyone except Abe.
Honestly, the tone is a tightrope walk. You’re laughing at Abe’s incompetence one second, and then you’re hit with the crushing weight of his depression the next. When a high school student named Caroline (played with a fantastic, wide-eyed sincerity by Sophie Nélisse) walks into his office to ask who murdered her boyfriend, the movie shifts. It’s not a game anymore.
Abe finally has a real case. A murder.
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But he’s still a "kid" detective. He sneaks into houses by hiding under beds—a tactic that works for a ten-year-old but makes a thirty-year-old look like a predator or a lunatic. The film uses these tropes to highlight how stunted Abe is. He’s been waiting for a chance to prove he isn't a fluke, but he’s forgotten that the world doesn't play by Encyclopedia Brown rules.
The Brutality of the Third Act
People talk about "tonal shifts" in cinema all the time, but The Kid Detective 2020 executes one of the most violent pivots in recent memory. If you haven't seen it, stop reading. Go watch it on a streaming service or buy the Blu-ray. I mean it.
For those who have seen it, you know the reveal is haunting. It’s not just a "whodunit" ending. It’s a "why did this happen" ending. The resolution of the Gracie Gulliver mystery and the murder of Caroline's boyfriend are linked in a way that feels incredibly grounded and, because of that, incredibly gross. There are no monologuing supervillains here. Just the banality of evil in a small town.
The final shot of the film is what sticks. It’s just a close-up of Adam Brody’s face. He’s finally solved the big one. He’s finally the hero. And he is absolutely, utterly destroyed by it. He’s sobbing because the truth didn't set him free; it just showed him exactly how much time he wasted while a monster lived next door.
Breaking Down the Production
This wasn't a big-budget blockbuster. It was an independent Canadian production that got caught in the crosshairs of the 2020 pandemic.
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- Director: Evan Morgan (who also wrote the script).
- Lead: Adam Brody, giving a career-best performance that subverts his The O.C. persona.
- Tone: Often compared to Brick or The Nice Guys, but it’s much bleaker than both.
- Score: Jay McCarrol’s music manages to sound like a whimsical mystery while feeling slightly "off," mirroring Abe’s psyche.
The movie premiered at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in September 2020. Because theaters were mostly closed or operating at limited capacity, it never got the massive marketing push it deserved. It became a "word of mouth" hit on VOD. It’s the kind of movie you find on a Tuesday night when you're bored, and by Thursday, you're telling all your friends they have to watch it.
The Reality of the "Grown-Up Child Star" Trope
We see this in real life all the time—the athlete who peaked in high school, the child actor who can't get a gig at twenty-five. Abe Applebaum is the detective version of that. The town of Willowbrook is an enabler. His parents (played by Peter MacNeill and Wendy Crewson) are clearly heartbroken by what their son has become, but they don't know how to stop the cycle.
There’s a scene where Abe’s dad tries to talk to him about his future, and the sheer awkwardness of the exchange is painful. It’s not a movie about a cool detective. It’s a movie about a guy who needs therapy and a job at a hardware store but refuses to let go of the one thing that once made him special.
Actionable Insights for Viewers and Writers
If you're a fan of the genre or a storyteller looking for inspiration, here is what you can take away from this film.
Don't ignore the "mid-range" mystery.
We are currently flooded with "prestige" true crime and high-octane thrillers. The Kid Detective 2020 proves there is still immense value in the mid-budget character study. You don't need a global conspiracy to make a story feel high-stakes. You just need a character whose entire identity depends on the outcome of a single event.
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Watch for the subversion of tropes.
Abe hides in a closet to overhear a conversation. In a kids' book, this is a clever plot device. In this film, he almost gets caught, looks pathetic, and the information he gets is barely useful. If you’re writing, look at the "rules" of your genre and ask: "What happens if a real, flawed person tries to do this?"
The importance of the "Ending Beat."
Most movies over-explain their endings. They have a five-minute epilogue showing everyone being happy. Morgan ends this movie on a raw emotion. It leaves the audience unsettled. When you're creating content, sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is stop right at the moment of peak impact.
Where to watch it now.
As of early 2026, the film is frequently available on platforms like Starz, Hulu, or for digital purchase on Amazon and Apple. It’s a staple for "underrated movies" lists for a reason.
If you want to understand how to blend comedy with genuine psychological horror, study the script. Notice how the jokes gradually disappear as the reality of the crime sets in. It’s a masterclass in pacing.
Next time you’re scrolling through a sea of identical-looking action movies, give this one a shot. It’s uncomfortable. It’s sad. It’s surprisingly funny. And it’s one of the most honest depictions of failure ever put on screen.