REVIEW

‘CLUB KID’ a Ravishing Triple Threat Debut from Jordan Firstman

Name: Club Kid review
Item: Club Kid
Rating: 4.3
Author: Matt Oakes

By Matt Oakes · November 2, 2026

‘CLUB KID’ a Ravishing Triple Threat Debut from Jordan Firstman

Where to watch: In theaters November 6 (updated October 2026)Find showtimes

Club Kid, the A24 comedy-drama from first-time writer, director, and star Jordan Firstman, is a wonderful discovery. Firstman (best known for bit parts in series like English Teacher, Dave, and I Love LA) plays Peter, a gay, hard-partying club promoter who, after years of rugged nasal skiing and promiscuous trysts, discovers he has a 10-year-old son he’s suddenly been entrusted to care for. Wickedly funny and emotionally honest, Club Kid is an uncommonly framed coming-of-age story about a man whose wheels are coming off, refurbished by the arrival of a son.

At first, Peter tries to shirk the responsibility and questions the validity of the entire prospect. He’s gay, after all, and only had P-in-V intercourse once, on a drugged-up whim. But when he meets Arlo (Reggie Absolom), the initial prickles of fatherhood quickly soften into something warm and caring. Their relationship is built around a shared love of music, and when Peter introduces Arlo to DJing, the kid sees his dad’s care reflected in their shared taste and in the respect Peter shows him. That’s not to say Peter is dadding in any traditional sense. He’s a little hands-off, he lets Arlo swear, and even when he’s genuinely trying to be responsible, he accidentally exposes the kid to the more adult-leaning corners of his life.

Reggie Absolom and Jordan Firstman in a record store in Club Kid

Unflattering comparisons to Big Daddy are inevitable, but Club Kid is less about a man-child learning to parent than a man discovering who he could be. When we meet Peter, he’s a shit show: doing way too many drugs, partying way too hard, and chasing a promoter career that’s really just a front, a way to keep the party going while convincing himself it’s some kind of business. He’s an addict and a small-time dealer, surrounded by friends who party just as hard. With Arlo’s arrival, he sees himself in a new light. He can take on responsibility. He can provide. And that feels better than the erasure that comes with nights drifting into mornings, railing lines with strangers.

But this isn’t a preachy movie. It’s not telling you drugs are bad or that party culture is inherently wicked. It plays more like the final chapter of Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange, where one day your alignment just shifts. You can’t force someone out of a rut they’ve worn themselves into for so long that it fits too snugly to climb out of. Peter keeps drugs stashed everywhere, and whenever he’s feeling low, waking up, or nursing a hangover, his hand reaches for a baggie on pure muscle memory. It’s a crutch. What finally replaces it isn’t willpower so much as a tectonic shift: caring for somebody else and putting them first.

Much of the comedy springs from the sheer incongruity of a fucked-up gay party boy and his scene colliding with a literal child (Arlo’s “I Love Björk and Bareback” T-shirt says it all). But Firstman is never making fun of that culture; this is a voice erupting from inside it. The script’s depictions of Peter’s queer circle and his trans friends come from a place of true representation, lived-in and authentic rather than window dressing. And it picks at the perceived contradiction between a queer lifestyle and parenthood from the inside out, letting the bond between Peter and Arlo answer the question for itself.

Firstman’s writing and performance work hand in hand, and both are exceptional. The script is raw, sharp, and genuinely funny, and his turn as Peter is a revelation, one of the best performances of the year. He’s hilarious and heartbreaking in equal measure, especially when Peter opens up about his struggles with self-esteem and self-love. Because Firstman wrote, directed, and starred, the whole thing feels deeply authorial, a creator putting it all out there on the page and on the screen, and the result is rich, delicate, and layered. Frankly, it’s quite beautiful. As Arlo, Absolom is wonderful: a gifted young actor who’s authentic and engaging and brings a ton of pathos to the role.

That authorial voice carries behind the camera, too. Directorially, Club Kid sings, from the way scenes are framed to the way the camera moves. In a key scene between Peter and Arlo, it drifts away from whoever’s talking to settle on whoever’s listening, a small, striking choice that tells you exactly where the film’s heart lies.

If there’s a knock, it’s that Club Kid runs a bit long. At just over two hours, you start to feel it by the end. But that extra time is also what tethers it to real dramatic heft, lifting what might otherwise have been a somewhat disposable comedy into something with genuine depth. By the time the house lights come up, the bond between Peter and Arlo feels hard-won and beautifully rendered, as lived-in as any family you’d choose for yourself.

CONCLUSION: Wickedly funny, emotionally honest, and frankly quite beautiful, ‘Club Kid’ is a ravishing triple threat debut from Jordan Firstman, whose turn as a party boy reborn as a father is one of the year’s best performances. It runs a few songs past last call, but this is one party worth closing down.

A-