Retro Reviews: Blank Check

Michael Wermuth- Blank Check is a live-action movie from 1994, involving a kid named Preston, who obtains one million dollars. Preston is a kid with little money. His bullying older brothers turn his room into an office for a business they’re starting, and their parents do nothing about it because they have jobs and Preston does not (keep in mind Preston is only 12). Meanwhile, an escaped convict named Carl Quigley takes 1 million dollars he had previously stolen to the bank, which is run by a former associate. The dollar bills are marked, but Quigley arranges so that they’ll be replaced with different dollars in a day (which doesn’t happen) and plans to have somebody pick up the money for him.

 Quigley ends up accidentally running over Preston’s bike and starts writing a check, but when he sees a police officer nearby, he quickly hands Preston the check and runs. Preston’s parents get mad over the fact that his bike was run over (but not for the fact that their kid was nearly run over) and ground him. Preston then finds out that the check is signed but has no written money amount, so he fills in one million dollars. He goes to cash his check close to the time Quigley’s associate Juice was supposed to cash the check and is mistaken for the person who was supposed to get Quigley’s money. Using a voice box on his computer, Preston ends up buying a big house over the phone, going by the name Macintosh.

Macintosh becomes the talk of the town. He forms a friendship with his limo driver, Henry, and arranges to go on a date with an attractive bank clerk who really wants to meet Macintosh, unaware that she works undercover for the FBI and is aware that the money Preston obtained was stolen money. Preston also decides to have Macintosh’s birthday be on his own birthday, but the party planner makes it a party he doesn’t really like, and to make matters worse, he finds out at the party that he’s run out of money (before everything was even paid for). And the bad guys show up at the house when Preston is all alone, leading to some Home Alone-inspired humor.

 I really like this movie. Many people have criticized the film for having Preston spend his money on things that would interest an adult more than a child, such as a fancy birthday party. But the way I see it, some of that could be him trying to throw the public off that “Macintosh” is a kid. And besides, many of the stuff for his party were planned by a party planner, and Preston was actually bored with the party and disappointed with the food being served. But in addition to that, Preston does buy a lot of things a kid would want but probably couldn’t afford under normal circumstances.