Blank Check - February 11, 1994

Blank Check

Tagline(s): Quick thinking landed him a million bucks... now everybody's after it!

Released: February 11, 1994

Studio: Walt Disney Pictures

Genre: Comedy

Directed by Rupert Wainwright

Stars: Brian Bonsall, Karen Duffy, Miguel Ferrer, James Rebhorn, Tone Lōc, Jayne Atkinson, Michael Lerner

Rotten Tomatoes: 9%

Metacritic: Not rated.

Budget: $13 million

Box Office: $30.5 million

Synopsis

Preston is involved in an accident and his bike is crushed. Given a blank cheque by a gangster, Preston takes it to the bank cashing it for $1 million and he soon starts spending but then guess who wants their money back?

Recollections

This was another of my childhood favourites which I undoubtedly uncritically observed and maybe shouldn't have revisited. 

Review

This is one of those films as a means of wish-fulfillment. A child obsessed with money is given, or rather takes, more money than he can ever imagine and suddenly the world is his oyster whereas before his financial situation just brought up a series of barriers. In that way it follows in the footsteps of films like Big and Brewster's Millions. But, what does Preston do with his new found fortune? He accumulates a bunch of stuff and buys new friends but I didn't buy into any real joy as Preston slides down his water-slide or rides his go-karts around his new castle. Which is where this film has nothing on either of the other titles of this genre.

Problematic is also the morality of Preston's actions. He is given a blank cheque from the main protagonist for crushing his bike and instead of the appropriate amount, he takes the cheque to the bank cashing it for $1 million. He may be stealing from a thief but he's still stealing by committing massive cheque fraud and there are no consequence for this. The kid also, by the end of the film, learns that $1 million is not actually a lot of money and his debts soon mount when a lavish birthday party is thrown. Preston in effect secures goods and services based on a deception that he would pay for it when in fact he did not have the money. Again there are no consequences for Preston.

I seem to see everything through the lens of Groundhog Day. We've already seen Brian Doyle-Murray who played Buster Green in Cabin Boy. In My Father the Hero we saw Stephen Tobolowsky (bing!) and in Blank Check we see Rick Ducommun who played the drunken vet Gus in Groundhog Day. I say this for no other reason than the joy of recognizing actors out of the roles you know them for.

Also worth pointing out here that this is Disney's second live action film of 1994, together accumulating roughly $50 million in sales. Given the return they get from Lion King which is yet to be released, it's no surprise that they are remembered more for their animated output from this era.