Blank Check (1994)

“How could you spend a million dollars in six days?”

-Miguel Ferrer as Carl Quigley

What a year 1994 was for cinema. Jim Carrey launches into superstardom with the releases of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Dumb and Dumber and The Mask. Hollywood is turned on its head with gritty indie films like Pulp Fiction and Natural Born Killers hitting mainstream audiences. The Lion King becomes one of the highest grossing animated Disney movies of all time.

Another Walt Disney property was also released the same year, although it would not reach quite the popularity of “Hakuna Matata”. And okay, I’ll just address the elephant in the room right now; with such a wealth (no pun intended) of movies about finance, you may be wondering why the hell are we talking about a children’s movie? A couple reasons. First off, it was streaming on Disney Plus which I happen to have a subscription to, so it was free. If anyone can appreciate the joys of saving a couple bucks, it’s this audience. Second, it very obviously involves a plot centered around a financial instrument, so it easily meets the criteria of movies considered at Finance Film Spot. Last, and the most important, I do think this silly kids’ movie does have something to offer adults as well (at least in concept). The idea of a blank check is interesting to me. So, I figured I would sit down, watch the movie, conduct some research to sort out all the facts and bring my results back to share with you. So, with that, let’s see get into the plot and see if this is a check worth cashing.

Plot Summary

Carl Quigley has just escaped from prison. He makes his way into an abandoned warehouse where he uncovers a hidden suitcase full of cash.

We then jump to 11-year-old Preston, and are introduced to his money hungry brothers, his miserly father and Preston’s Macintosh computer, complete with text-to-speech software.

Quigley pays a visit to his old “friend” Mr. Biderman, a high up at the local bank, and intimidates the man into exchanging his consecutively marked bills for ones which are not so easily traced. Quigley informs Biderman that his man “Juice” will stop by the following day for the handoff. As Quigley leaves, he backs his car over Preston’s bike. He begins to write a check to cover the damages, but leaves quickly to avoid a nearby police officer and forgets to fill in the dollar amount. As a result, he hands Preston a…. let’s say it together…. blank check. Preston returns home and makes the check out to “Cash” in the amount of $1,000,000.

The next day at the bank, Biderman confuses Preston for Quigley’s accomplice, and the boy is able to redeem the check for the entire amount. With his new-found wealth burning a hole in his pocket, Preston immediately telephones in a cash offer on a local mansion and acquires the estate posing as Mr. Macintosh.

Quigley, Juice and Biderman quickly piece together what happened and set out to find Preston, unaware of his true identity.

Following a spending spree montage, Preston runs into Shay, a bank teller whom he previously met. After seemingly convincing the thirty-something that he handles Mr. Macintosh’s financial affairs, Preston scores a date with a woman three times his age….and it really happens. They go on a date…. together…

The next day, the three con men happen across Preston, who narrowly escapes and makes it back to his estate. But the men are able to threaten one of Preston’s schoolmates into revealing the identity of the mystery millionaire.

While the pressure mounts for Preston as more people want to meet Macintosh, he begins to learn that money isn’t everything if you don’t have anyone to share it with. This culminates at a birthday party for mystery benefactor, and Preston comes to the realization that he has spent the entire ill-gotten fortune. With no money left, the party is quickly disbanded. Quigley, Juice and Biderman arrive, only to learn that Macintosh is a front and all of Quigley’s money has been spent.

In a Home Alone-esque sequence, Preston dispatches Biderman and Juice. Preston is nearly captured by Quigley when Shay arrives. It turns out she was undercover FBI all along. Quigley, hoping to assume a new identity, claims to be Macintosh, but the three are escorted to jail.  Shay agrees to see Preston again in six years, leaving the audience feeling confused and concerned at the potential implications.

Financial Breakdown

In the film, Miguel Ferrer’s character Quigley writes Preston a blank check. This means Quigley signed his name on a valid check, but did not specify a dollar amount.

This is a practice historically used by small businesses. As an example, let’s say I’m the owner of a company and want to get away for the weekend. Maybe I’m going completely off the grid, and plan to be without phone and internet. I can’t even be bothered to send a letter in the mail. Before leaving town, it’s still my responsibility to ensure the business keeps chugging along in my absence. If payment to an associated third-party will be due while I’m away, it could be the case that I pay them in advance. However, if the cost is variable and I’m not in the business of overpaying, one of my options could be to write a blank check and give it to one of my employees. My employee would then be able to fill in the exact dollar amount following communication with the third party. This ensures the payment is made on time and I remain free to further explore the wonders of underwater basket weaving.

For obvious reasons, anyone writing a blank check would want to be absolutely certain the person they’re handing it off to can be trusted to treat it responsibly. Keeping close tabs on the check to ensure it doesn’t become misplaced or lost would be critical. It would certainly seem that, in the age of online payments and scheduled automatic transfers, the need for blank checks has diminished if not gone away altogether. Nevertheless, anyone with a checkbook and a pen has the ability to write a blank check (but for the love of God don’t do this just for kicks). To address the film’s portrayal of how a blank check would be filled out and cashed, I’ve noted a few plot points and considerations.

Before he even attempts to withdraw money using the check, Preston makes the check out to cash, by simply writing the word “Cash” on the “Pay to the Order of” line. After deciding on the amount of $1,000,000, he uses his computer to print this information on the check rather than handwrite it. Not only is the printed format consistent with a check generated from a business, it also would have the potential to attract less attention when attempting to cash. It also solidifies Preston as the smartest 11-year-old in the world.

Unfortunately, I have personally never been in a position to try to cash a million-dollar check, so I can’t confirm how easily this would be done. However, I have found that you will typically get some attention from the bank teller whenever attempting to cash a five-figure check, even at the lower end of $10,000. This may require confirmation from the bank manager which, to the film’s credit, is how it plays out when the bank teller escorts Preston to Biderman so that he can confirm the transaction.

The movie had previously established that Preston didn’t have the minimum amount required to open an account with this bank. Preston was therefore extremely fortunate that the teller didn’t immediately show him the door. I’ve found that banks get very concerned when you don’t have an active account with them and want to do anything more than use their bathroom. I remember a time when you could cash a check without having an account at said bank, but this might not even be possible anymore, at least not with the big boy brick and mortar ones.

Lastly, if you do have an account with the bank, you will still attract suspicion if you attempt to cash a check and do not have sufficient funds in your account should the check be invalid. And this makes sense. It’s a lot less risky for the bank to hand out $1,000,000 when you have more than this in a checking or savings account.

Review

Looking back on my experience watching this movie, all that comes to mind is “…. meh.” It wasn’t good, it wasn’t terrible, it was meh. The acting, the dialog, the character interactions, it’s all surface level bubble gum storytelling without any hint of deeper meaning. The takeaway lesson of “money isn’t everything” isn’t delivered in a way that’s interesting or engaging. But because the movie beats you over the head with this message time and time again, it’s at least effective in getting the point across. In the movie’s defense, it was clearly developed with children in mind as the intended audience, and I do think most elementary school-aged kids would find it entertaining.

I would be remised if I didn’t call attention to the weirdest part of this movie, the relationship between Preston and Shay. It’s clear throughout the movie that the only reason she spends time with Preston is to get to Mr. Macintosh. However, the FBI agent (played by Karen Duffy who would have been around 32 at the time) goes above and beyond her duties when she agrees to go on a date with Preston. I get that it’s supposed to be cute and innocent, but the way it comes off…I can’t quite put my finger on it, but the word “lecherous” comes to mind (and I’m not referring to Preston). This culminates in a painfully awkward scene during the Macintosh/Preston birthday celebration where Shay kisses Preston on the lips and agrees to see him again in six years. Let’s see, if Preston was 11 when the movie began and was celebrating a birthday, obviously making him 12, then in six years he would be a legal adult. Despite the fact that Disney was paying close attention to the math on this one, it’ll definitely make you uncomfortable. I recommend looking up this scene on YouTube so that you can suffer along with me, but that’s about it.

Closing Thoughts

I decided to keep it short and sweet by summing this movie up in two succinct points:

  1. Meh
  2. A date?!?! Lady, he’s 11!

Final Rating: Don’t bother cashing this check. It’s not worth the trip to the bank.

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