Ace the Case

In the opening scene, a father is killed. Criminals kidnap a young woman for ransom, keeping her imprisoned and tied to a cot and threatening her with a gun. A man hits a mugger with a cane. A man douses two characters with gasoline and is about to strike a match. A man who isn't a cop uses martial arts and other forms of physical and verbal intimidation to get suspects to talk. A young girl rides the subway and is frightened by two menacing men. A criminal confronts a young girl who's been following him and tells her he can and will cut her up if she doesn't leave him alone. Fight scene involves several parties pointing guns at one another. A man accidentally kills himself with his own gun, but his corpse isn't scary; he looks like he's smiling.

A young woman is temporarily living with her boyfriend; they embrace a couple of times. A man tries to pick up a woman at a club. A man's alibi in a crime is that he spent the night with another woman. A silly but suggestive phone joke about whether someone still wears thongs and then someone says she prefers leather and chaps.

Mild insult language like "stupid," "idiot," "weird," "freak," etc.

Two teens drink while parents are away; one of them gets so drunk he vomits repeatedly. Several adults drink socially at home, restaurants, and nightclubs.

Parents need to know that Ace the Case is a Manhattan-set mystery about a young girl who sees her neighbor being kidnapped. Although the main character is a tween and the movie is presented as a family-friendly detective story, its tone is dark and dangerous overall. Violence includes a parental death, a kidnapping (a woman is tied to a cot), threats with guns (and other forms of intimidation), and more. Plus, in one particularly harrowing scene, the main character and another person are doused with gasoline and nearly lit on fire. Language is mild, and there's no sex beyond mild flirtation at a club and a couple of embraces and suggestive jokes. But teens do drink and get drunk (to the point of vomiting in one case), and -- inexplicably -- one adult character basically says he doesn't care what unsupervised kids do as long they don't kill themselves.

To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.