Almost Partners (1987)

This short (less than one hour) film is from the collection titled WonderWorks that was designed for young viewers, and shown by PBS, preserving in this instance attributes of most television movies, relating a story featuring a 14 year old girl, Molly McCue, who delights in little else but detective stories and imagines herself as sidekick of a fictional private eye. When Molly's grandmother is victimized by burglars who steal an urn containing ashes of her recently deceased husband, young Molly begins to probe about the crime scene, irritating a New York City detective assigned to the case, Jack Welder (Paul Sorvino), who does not appreciate interference from the amateur sleuth whose mind is swimming with theories. In company with a young friend Molly visits (in disguise) the funeral home where her grandfather was cremated, and discovers that there may be a connection between the burglary and a highly-publicized theft of an ancient Chinese urn, valued at three million dollars, and when her grandmother reports receiving a ransom request for $10,000 to regain her spouse's ashes, Welder and Molly become an unofficial detective team as the veteran policeman becomes energized over an assignment where recovery of the Chinese relic would be the highlight of his long career. The storyline's incongruities will be of no moment to its targeted youthful audience, but a majority of the action is probably too silly for those above the age of seven, and there is not much here to interest most adults, although Sorvino as ever gives a competent performance; his "almost partner", however, played by Royana Black, displays but a scant emotional range in this somewhat bland affair.