The One Movie On Disney+ That Should Have A Disclaimer Doesn’t

By Robert Scucci
| Published 13 seconds ago

Disney is pretty inconsistent when it comes to what kind of media on their platform they find problematic enough to require a disclaimer. For instance, 18 episodes of The Muppet Show have a 12-second content warning, stating, “This program includes negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures. These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now. Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together.”

It’s a great way for Disney to say they have a problem with content on their platform while still making money off of it. But after having it brought to my attention that 1994’s Blank Check has a third-act scene in which Karen Duffy, who was 31 years old at the time of the movie’s production, shares a romantic kiss with lead actor Brian Bonsall, who was just 11 years old, I was surprised they didn’t have a disclaimer here, if only to save face.

My first thought before firing up Blank Check in bad faith was, “is it like Big, where the boy looks like a fully grown Tom Hanks, and she doesn’t know?” Nope. She’s an FBI agent posing as a bank teller named Shay Stanley, who, in the process of taking down a money laundering ring, falls in love with a young millionaire named Preston Waters.

Listen, I’m not outraged by this weird little romance plot that happens in Blank Check. You can tell that the writers were just trying a little too hard to be subversive and simply failed to give the room a proper read. I’m more offended by how awful this movie is in every other regard.

It Ain’t Easy Growing Up Anywhere

In Blank Check, Preston Waters is a total mope show because his older brothers, Damien (Chris Demetral) and Ralph (Michael Faustino), are allowed by their white-collar father, Fred (James Rebhorn), to convert his bedroom into an office space. Basically, dad is a Froogal McDoogal, and the older brothers are entrepreneurs, meaning they all love money more than each other. Preston, who’s only 11, gets a laughably low allowance, which leaves him feeling like an outsider whenever money enters the conversation. 

Everything changes when an ex-convict named Carl Quigley (Miguel Ferrer) runs over Preston’s bike and writes him a blank check to buy his silence. Preston fills it out for a million dollars, and thanks to a mix-up involving Quigley’s courier, Juice (Tone Loc), bank manager Edward Biderman (Michael Lerner) actually cashes it. Naturally, Biderman loses his mind when the real Juice shows up looking for the laundered money. 

This is also where we meet Shay Stanley (Karen Duffy), who initially appears to be a bank teller helping Preston open an account. In reality, she’s an FBI agent keeping tabs on Biderman’s money laundering operation. Preston’s sudden wealth puts him on her radar, and when he starts telling everybody he’s working for a mysterious millionaire named Mr. Macintosh, a name borrowed from his brother’s computer, Shay begins wondering if he’s somehow connected to the case. 

While blowing through his newfound fortune, Preston keeps up the Mr. Macintosh story, claiming he’s handling the finances for an insanely wealthy benefactor. Shay, convinced there might be a connection between Mr. Macintosh and Biderman’s operation, gets closer to Preston, which is where Blank Check starts making some truly baffling decisions. 

On one hand, Shay is an FBI agent following a lead. On the other hand, she hits it off just a little too well with Preston, who takes her out for burgers and fries, gets soaked with her while dancing in a fountain, and chauffeurs her around in his limo. At any point, she could have simply identified herself and asked for his help. 

Instead, the movie decides there’s some kind of mutual attraction at play. Listen, this is a movie with a PG rating, but yes, a grown woman does have a pretty blatant romantic storyline with an 11-year-old boy, and I have no idea what they were thinking here. 

There Are So Many Reasons To Not Watch Blank Check

That said, there aren’t many compelling reasons to sit down and watch Blank Check. The romance plot is weird, and the way the film frames money’s influence on family dynamics is honestly kind of depressing. Not to mention the fact that this kid buys a literal castle for something like $300,000. Meanwhile, the only houses I see for sale in 2026 cost about half a million dollars and don’t even have two bathrooms. Seeing how far a dollar went in the ’90s, even when exaggerated for comedic purposes, is enough to take the wind out of your sails.

Every character is one-dimensional, and even our hero Preston is a straight-up criminal. Sure, he’s being pursued by people who are objectively worse than he is, but his entire arc revolves around committing fraud. Good for him, I guess, but the cynic in me can’t help wondering why this movie doesn’t end with him getting thrown in jail.

As of this writing, you can stream Blank Check, with no disclaimer attached, on Disney+.