Opening in theaters on November 6 is ‘Club Kid,’ written and directed by Jordan Firstman, who also stars alongside Cara Delevingne, Diego Calva, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Colleen Camp, Eldar Isgandarov, Saturn Risin9, and Reggie Absolom.
Release Nov 6, 2026Runtime 2h 1m
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Initial Thoughts
An impressive writing and directing feature debut from queer comedian and ‘I Love LA’ cast member Jordan Firstman, who also stars, ‘Club Kid’ is both a heartwarming and heartbreaking glimpse at the meaning of family, love, and responsibility set in the middle of New York City’s underground, drug-heavy, and LGBTQ+-oriented party scene.
The gritty nature of the late-night New York streets and the hazy, sometimes dangerously hedonistic lifestyle that the film portrays recalls at times films like ‘Cruising’ and ‘Looking for Mr. Goodbar.’ But the flipside is the emotional drama it channels, harkening back to classics like ‘Kramer vs. Kramer.’ Add a sprinkle of ‘Anora’ on top and you have an engrossing, funny, yet bittersweet film that at times comes across as a bit pat and predictable, but still strikes a few deeply resonant emotional chords by the time it ends.
Story and Direction
It’s 2016 and Peter Green (Jordan Firstman), gay, single, and living in his late mother’s rent-controlled Brooklyn apartment, is a party promoter who runs events at a venue called Club Labor in Bushwick. A minor celebrity in his community of club kids and drag queens, Peter revels in his lifestyle of loud music, late nights, ketamine and cocaine, and casual sex – presented as ‘Club Kid’ opens in a dizzying, kaleidoscopic montage (in his first gambit, Firstman piles himself and five friends into a cab, then spins the camera around as they sing and shout) that suggests both an exciting, delirious fever dream and a nightmarish descent into a hedonistic but dissolute underworld.
A decade later, Peter is still promoting parties with his coke-addicted partner Sophie (Cara Delevingne), who’s trying to get investors to come aboard. But Peter is finally starting to feel the wear and tear of his life, asking his eccentric downstairs neighbor Evelyn, ‘Ever feel like you lost 10 years?’ and attempting unsuccessfully to get Azerbaijanian ‘queer philosopher,’ twink, and hanger-on Nicky out of his apartment.
Sophie severs ties with him after a deal goes south, leaving Peter with no income and no job. Then a British woman named Edison (an ebullient Kirby Howell-Baptiste) shows up, with a 10-year-old boy named Arlo (Reggie Absolom) in tow – a boy who is, as it turns out, Peter’s son, conceived during a three-way with Edison’s friend Lenora and another man during a night at the club that Peter barely remembers. And since Lenora has taken her own life, Edison fulfills her promise to her friend of bringing Arlo to his father – and leaving him there.
For all its immersive depictions of sex and drug use, ‘Club Kid’ is a surprisingly conventional story. Firstman directs with flair and confidence, alternating between the clarity of the daytime scenes and the stroboscopic murk of the nighttime ones (making New York City, by the way, very much a character in the film). Yet the long middle section, in which Peter and Arlo begin to bond (particularly over Arlo’s impressive taste in music and their unresolved pain revolving around their mothers) is both breezily charming and almost too simplistic. The two adapt to life together rather seamlessly, even as Peter deals with starting his own party (not the best idea when you have a kid around) and falling in love with Arlo’s social worker (a tender Diego Calva).
With the film mostly set amidst a marginalized community, ‘Club Kid’ comes off as kind of Sean Baker lite, channeling the ‘Anora’ director’s everyday realism and chaos yet not digging too deeply under the surface. It’s almost too easy for Peter, whose entire adult life has been dedicated to partying, to give up drugs, alcohol, and large swaths of his lifestyle to care for a kid who he barely knows. There are scenes in which he tries to figure out health insurance and getting Arlo into school, but the film mostly avoids the complications that would undoubtedly come with that. As a result, the shift in tone during the third act feels abrupt and a little unearned, as if the plot turns of the movie’s final third were mandated rather than organic.
Still, the movie does deliver a gut punch toward the end as Peter and Arlo’s relationship changes again, and it’s during this section that ‘Club Kid’ manages to bring a lump to the throat more than once. Luckily, even the middle of the film skates by thanks to several heartfelt scenes, Arlo’s humorous interactions with other people in Peter’s life, and the genuine bond that forms between father and son (their first ‘I love you’ to each other will melt you). ‘Club Kid’ has its faults, but its strength lies in its humanity, the essential goodness of most of its characters, and its warm depictions of community and found family.
Cast and Performances
Firstman, a seasoned online and screen performer, takes his comic persona in a different direction here with a nuanced, subtle performance. Peter’s basic decency shines through the miasma of the hard-partying lifestyle he’s been living, and despite his insistence that he had a ‘normal gay teen’ upbringing, hints of some deep-seated pain peek through as he mentions his ‘complicated’ relationship with his mother and nothing about his father. During one scene in which he’s gently admonished by a judge, Peter sits sheepishly, the little boy still very much part of the man.
Reggie Absolom is equally charming as Arlo, his face lighting up as he warms to the possibilities of his new life, although again the script perhaps makes it easy enough for him to just be a good kid. Hints of anger poke through but are not fully addressed, although the scene in which Arlo and Peter share memories of their moms is quietly heartbreaking. He and Firstman share undeniable chemistry throughout the film.
They’re supported by a wonderful cast of diverse characters, with veteran Colleen Camp hilarious as Evelyn (the kind of ‘permanent’ resident that New Yorkers know so well), Eldar Isgandarov stealing scenes as the multi-layered Nicky, and real-life DJ Saturn Risin9 both majestically fabulous and caring as Saffron, a Big Apple survivor who never seems ruffled by anything.
Final Thoughts
‘Club Kid’ doesn’t reinvent the wheel in terms of its narrative or character arc, but it does present its story through the lens of a community which may not necessarily shout ‘crowd-pleaser’ to mainstream, middle America audiences. Firstman is undeniably a major talent both in front of and behind the camera.
Nonetheless, a crowd-pleaser is what this film is, and even with some of its roughest edges sanded down a bit, its empathy, beautiful chemistry between its two leads, and overall warmth and sincerity are certainly enough to win over anyone with a heart – even if the film’s pounding club music sets that heart racing from time to time.
‘Club Kid’ receives a score of 85 out of 100.
What is the plot of ‘Club Kid’?
A hard-partying New York City club promoter sees his whirlwind lifestyle upended by the arrival of the 10-year-old son he never knew he had.
Who is in the cast of ‘Club Kid’?
- Jordan Firstman as Peter Green
- Reggie Absolom as Arlo
- Cara Delevingne as Sophie
- Diego Calva as Oscar
- Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Edison
- Colleen Camp as Evelyn
- Eldar Isgandarov as Nicky
- Saturn Risin9 as Saffron
- Paris Petitjean as Lenora
- Vicki Pepperdine as Lydia Chestworth
- Nigil Whyte as Devon
- Miss Benny as Almi
- Alaska Riley as Hana
