Blank Check

Blank Check, which was written by Blake Snyder and Colby Carr, directed by Rupert Wainwright and filmed with grace and style by cinematographer Bill Pope, is definitely a guilty pleasure, but more the latter than the former.

Blank Check turns schmaltzy toward the end by borrowing gimmicks from the Home Alone movies and resorting to the cavalry-to-the-rescue formula ending. This is de rigueur Disney, best when it's kept light and fantastical. [11 Feb 1994, p.G4]

In the end, family ties are re-strung, but the morals remain annoyingly at loose ends.

Because I’m not a 9-year-old boy, however, this story of a kid who acquires a blank check, cashes it for a million bucks, spends it all, and learns that having stuff isn’t nearly as satisfying as having a father’s love comes across as a calculated, mechanical production owing much too much to Home Alone.

While the script occasionally plummets to the nadir of un-funny, there are plenty of MTV-style pop interludes to keep the little ones from drifting, and a stonking version of Money (That's What I Want) by Zendetta that is reason enough to sit beside them.

Blank Check will get a few big laughs from kids, but that doesn't stop this vapid, morally bankrupt and wretchedly written Disney comedy from being genuinely disgusting. [11 Feb 1994, p.D28]

This movie simply reeks.