As the short film Kid Prosper opens, Drew Wainright (Aaron Dalla Villa) is the typical religious leader. He has a humble congregation, a supportive wife Natalie (Natty Walsh) by his side, and a deep, dark secret. As Drew preaches the Gospel to his scant, but growing congregation he is carrying on an affair with a man. Drew is gay. Clutch those pearls, I know. One Sunday morning, a note lands in the collection plate from a member of his church. They are threatening to expose Drew’s double life. How far will Drew go to have his cake and eat it too? Written and directed by Aaron Dalla Villa and Jesse Pimentel Kid Prosper strives to plumb the depths of desperation while exposing the hypocrisy of modern religion. What we get is a competently executed piece of work that is so polished, that you wonder why they missed a few key ingredients.

So Drew might be exposed. This is stressful enough for someone leading a double life, but his entire career as a man of god could be threatened. As our good preacher faces possible exposure his superior, Pastor Monroe (Christopher Ryan) is visiting with an eye on promoting Drew to a much larger church and far more money. With the secret floating in the ether around him, Drew begins to suspect everyone. He starts by attacking his lover, thinking that he is being blackmailed. This leads Drew down a darker rabbit hole that only creates more problems.

Dalla Villa and Pimentel know how to construct a crackling thriller. Drew is living with an enemy in plain sight that he cannot see while coming to grips with his own hypocrisy. Yet their film, if you will forgive the pun, plays things a little too straight. Stupidity is a wellspring for comedy and I feel that there are some missed opportunities here. That’s not to say this should have been a screwball caper, but the pathos would have been more evenly seasoned with a dark, slightly comic undertone.

That said, Dalla Villa steps up to the plate and knocks it out of the park as co-writer, co-director, and star. His wirey physicality and darting eyes induce a delicious anxiety. Ryan also does fine work as the pompous Pastor Ryan. He has the swagger down. While Walsh does a fine job as Drew’s wife Natalie, I wanted to see more of her blind loyalty to her husband and why she might ignore any suspicions of his infidelity.

There is a strong foundation here with Kid Prosper for a bigger, more powerful piece. I hope we get to see that someday.