Heated Rivalry's Sophie Nélisse Starred In One Of The Best Detective Movies You've Never Seen

Whether you know her as Rose Landry from "Heated Rivalry" or Shauna Shipman from "Yellowjackets," Sophie Nélisse is a talent to watch. The Québécoise actress has been acting since childhood; her first major role was in 2013's "The Book Thief," about a young girl living in Nazi Germany. Nélisse has since added a resume of other films under her belt, from another WWII drama, "Irena's Vow," to mystery-comedy "The Kid Detective."

What happens when Encyclopedia Brown, the precocious kid detective who solves minor mysteries around town, grows up? According to "The Kid Detective," that experience would give him inflated self-importance, so he'd peak early. Abe Appelbaum (Adam Brody) is a former kid detective grown into a struggling private investigator. The charm of his solving small mysteries wore off to townspeople once he left middle school, but even at 32, he's sticking to his path. Then one day, a teenager named Caroline (Nélisse) walks into Abe's office and asks him to solve a real crime: the murder of her boyfriend, Patrick.

"The Kid Detective" premiered in late 2020, which was very bad timing for a theatrical release due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The movie's writer-director Evan Morgan, in an appearance on the "My First Picture" podcast, looked at the silver lining and argued there was less theatrical competition for "The Kid Detective." 

"For an indie, all you really hope is that people are going to be aware that the movie exists," Morgan said.  The movie ultimately only pulled about $360,000 at the box office, but "The Kid Detective" has gotten more attention since it started streaming. The movie was released just before Nélisse broke out, thanks to "Yellowjackets," and fans of hers owe it to themselves to watch it.

"The Kid Detective" has a similar vibe to Rian Johnson's mystery film "Brick," which took a Dashiell Hammett-style mystery and stuck it in a high school. Both movies steer away from simple parody, though, because the stakes and violence of the mysteries are life-and-death. As Morgan said on "My First Feature," his original concept was a movie about a kid detective who solves real, "grisly" crimes like murders, but after he met Adam Brody, he flipped that premise on its head to rework the lead part for Brody.

Like "Brick," "The Kid Detective" is structured like a classic noir but in suburbia. A woman walks in off the street to a P.I.'s office and asks him to solve a murder. Along the way, he unravels the case and dark secrets he never expected to find. Abe even narrates the picture at times, completing the noir feel. During "The Kid Detective," Caroline joins Abe on his investigation; she's basically his Watson, even though Abe is no Sherlock Holmes. Between Nélisse's doe eyes and her soft voice, she projects classical girl-next-door innocence, which contrasts with the town's boiling-up darkness.

At the third act low point, Abe opens up to Caroline about feeling like he's wasted his childhood potential: "It's difficult to accept the difference between who you are in your head and who you are in the world," he says. Caroline confides in him, too, admitting she's sick of everyone treating her like a little girl who doesn't even dream of breaking the rules. If you know Sophie Nélisse, you know she can go darker. When you look at her, you expect a Caroline, but "Yellowjackets" used that expectation to blind side audiences when Shauna became a monster.

While Nélisse as Caroline is a vital ingredient, "The Kid Detective" is first and foremost Abe's story. Like most fictional detectives, he's got one unsolved case that haunts him; back when he was a true kid detective, his friend Gracie Gulliver (Kaitlyn Chalmers-Rizzato) disappeared. Even if no one in town truly expected a mere kid to solve a kidnapping, Abe thought he should have; he failed Gracie and himself.

Abe's perception of his hometown mirrors his self-image. He remarks, in narration and dialogue, that the town is much less bright and sunny than when he was a kid, just like how he's boozed up and well past his pint-sized glory days. In this part, Brody's deadpan comedy style is just right. Abe sees Caroline as an avatar of Gracie, his second chance to solve a true crime and help a girl in need. For that character, you need an actress who can seem both naive and more mature than you'd think under that naivete. Speaking about Caroline's arc, Nélisse said that: "She is an old soul and understands a lot more than you think."

While "The Kid Detective" wraps up with all the mystery's hanging threads tied up, it holds back emotional resolution for the leads. In Abe and Caroline's last scene together, there's a lot of empty air and no sentimentality about their adventure together. They know the truth, but it's hard to feel too triumphant about it. Watch "The Kid Detective," and you'll realize why.