‘Club Kid’ Review: Jordan Firstman’s Gay Peter Pan Party Boy Tale Gets Raves Across the Board [A-] Cannes
You might have loved Jordan Firstman even before you knew it. Remember the ode to Laura Dern from the 2020 Spirit Awards sung by the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles? That was just an inkling of what he had in store for us as his feature film debut Club Kid–as director, writer and star–has vaulted him into the stratosphere of the top tier debuts of the year and the most talked about film at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
We first meet Peter (Firstman) in 2016, in a bejeweled Madonna shirt from her ‘Music’ era, drug-fueled as a popular party promoter in New York City. Piling into an Uber with his army of boys and dolls (with names like Kundle Jenner), Rihanna’s “Sex with Me” blasts as Adam Newport-Berra’s 35mm camera swirls around them in a dizzying single shot. At the end of the night, Peter is in the back room trying to make out with a hot guy and is constantly interrupted by a British bird he nicknames ‘Innit Babes.’. “I want to watch you fuck her,” says the trade. Quite unknowingly in his drugged stupor, Peter rather unwillingly complies.
Cut to 10 years later and things haven’t changed much. High on his own supply (among other things), Peter rolls out of an all-night bender into an important investor meeting with his partner (in business and in crime) Sophie, played with freaked out fun by Cara Delevigne, where he’s so blacked out he can’t even speak. The party is over, it seems and she wants to sever their relationship.. Adding insult to injury, that fateful night 10 years ago had something not on his life radar in the form of a latent surprise; our Peter Pan now has a lost boy of his own, the not overly precocious Arlo (Reggie Absolom, marvelous in his film debut). Arlo’s mom has died and her best friend Edison (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) has flown across the pond to New York with the boy in tow to drop him off literally at Peter’s doorstep and then disappears back to England just as quickly.
He shares his apartment with an out of work, needy twink, a self-described “aspiring queer philosopher,” from Azerbaijan named Nicky (Eldar Isgandarov, hilarious). While Arlo’s presence was initially only meant to last a few hours turns to sem-permanent and he kicks Nicky out, sending him to live with his downstairs neighbor (played by Hollywood legend Colleen Camp). When I say I could watch an entire spin-off of the antics of these two, believe me. Perennially single Peter finds a therapist for Arlo in the form of the hottest person possible for the job, Diego Calva (Babylon). They take long walks in the park, where Peter reveals things like the film Mysterious Skin being formative to his childhood (a detail that, iykyk) but Oscar wants to keep his relationship with Peter, and Arlo, a professionally ethical one. “Can I have a hug?” says Peter, and it’s one of walls coming down. Calva is a good match for Firstman, I only wish there was a bit more there for the Mexican superstar to do.
Firstman has often straddled the line of an actor/persona that’s made him one of the more divisive gays for the terminally online but it’s that very persona that has made him a scene stealer in supporting roles on television with Search Party, The English Teacher and I Love L.A. (and as himself on Hacks this season) and his leading turn in Sebastian Silva’s (real) sex comedy Rotting in the Sun. As writer and star, Firstman turns the commentary into a mirror of sorts, and wields a screenplay so specific in details (the Basement namedrop, calling the food at Balthazar “mid”) and with complete control of tones that range from uproariously funny to heartbreaking. It comes as no surprise that one of the film’s producers is Alex Coco, brand new Oscar winner for Sean Baker’s Anora as the DNA of Baker’s films is felt here in the most complimentary of ways. As an actor, Firstman really comes into his own here, able to remove his persona exterior for moments of bracing vulnerability. It’s a fantastic performance.
Peter and Arlo’s relationship unfolds in wonderfully rewarding ways, establishing the pair as more alike than either would have expected. Whether it’s the 1998 young adult novel “Holes” or the Cocteau Twins, the age gap is nonexistent, as Peter is still young at heart while Arlo is living his best old soul life. I absolutely must get my hands on Peter’s “I Heart Bjork And Barebacking” shirt. When Peter’s friends crash his apartment after he forgets that he’s hosting that night’s pre-game, Arlo blurts out “Are you trans?”, the girls gasp until he follows it up with “I love the dolls,” perfectly gagging the girls. He’s also an aspiring DJ and Saffron takes him under her wing. Against his sober better judgement, they convince Peter to let Arlo spin a set with her, which goes well and without incident. A second time, however, as a story like this demands, has a more devastating result.
This setup, the instant parent who must reassess their life in order to care for a new arrival, is pretty well-worn and one might even see a bit of Adam Sandler’s Big Daddy (with ‘daddy’ having a dual connotation here) to Kramer vs. Kramer but what unfolds in the film’s two hours and five minutes (which are shockingly all well spent) is so shockingly good. Even when it tiptoes near maudlin territory, as when his custody of Arlo is challenged, Firstman’s instincts pull back and the film’s earnestness is more than just earned, it’s deserved. It’s destined to be one of the year’s best films.
Grade: A-
This review is from the 2026 Cannes Film Festival where Club Kid had its world premiere in the Un Certain Regard section. A24 will release the film theatrically in the U.S.
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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