Blank Check

There is a film that somehow tends to return back to the chaotic tunnels of ideas and thoughts within my mind. A film that isn't really good, or that memorable for that matter. It is a film that I recall seeing multiple times throughout my youth and somehow it has ended up into my adult years. Well, if you have read the title, you already know that it is Blank Check. I must admit, this time Blank Check appeared to me out of the fact that I have Disney+ and was scouting through its library for something nostalgic, something that seemed recognisable that I could switch on knowing generally what to expect and that my brain could be placed into a state of near minimal power.

For some reason, the warmer summer evenings place me into this state of nostalgia and comfort in which I long for some herbal tea and to read a book or watch something that coincides with the aspects of warm evenings, fresh breezes, and that dry air that lingers into the night that suffocates when you ideally want to go to sleep. I think this is because of the ways I introduced myself into the world of cinema in my youth; reminiscing of the evenings and nights of watching films either on the select few television channels I had access to, or the few DVDs we had accumulated over the years.

Under what is currently a series of seemingly poor excuses for watching this film and then reviewing it, Blank Check is quick, quite average, and also a lot of fun given how dumb it is. It is a film of its time, where family films were about family values and children prioritised fun over pretty much everything else -- though that last part probably is left unchanged in time.

Blank Check is a film made for boys. A film that practically dissects the many needs and wants of youth: to grow old, to feel important, to have an endless supply of food, comics, and video games. To live a life not necessarily of luxury, but one where everything is spent on really getting that dopamine going. But Blank Check isn't just about getting everything you want and pursuing a life of nonsensical consumerism. In fact, it is a film that teaches the youth of quite the opposite, and I would say that is the film's greatest, if not mostly-unnoticed strength.

Though that is not to say that the film does not also glorify that endless want to consume for the majority of the film as it toys with it and displays the many fun events and times to be had with various products and luxuries. It has a narrative that focuses itself around a middle-class family that lives paycheck-to-paycheck and can't afford a whole lot more than the necessities. A younger child with older brothers that seemingly get all they desire as they venture their hands into the prospects of business and getting up on their feet, getting the support from their parents while seemingly the youngest of the children is left behind. That's far from the truth, and their house is certainly quite well-off. But I can see how from the mind of a child it could appear as such.

Insert a few idiotic criminals with lots of money but very little intelligence and you have yourself a pretty typical narrative for a Disney film from the 90s and early 2000s. It is far from a surprise to find such a narrative structure in this type of film, and I don't think it is right to criticise it for that matter. It's a film that's very clear on what it intends. In fact, I can think of many other films with such a similar nature, some perhaps not really made for the typical family or children.

Though, in the case of Blank Check, it's certainly more on the side of children, where it displays the endless amount of gluttony followed by the inevitable realisation that none of it truly matters, and that it's the experiences you create with others that are close to you that really matter. This takes place under a narrative in which a group of idiotic criminals accidentally give a child one million dollars in cash thinking they were handing it through a complex web of money laundering crooks to cleanse it. Though, it wasn't as they expected and they simply gave a child thirsting for cash, well, a bag full of it. The child goes mad on a shopping spree and having endless amounts of fun, spending money on a home, limo and driver, and just consumerism for the sake of it. The money of course dries up and he's left realising that money was never really what he wanted, it was just to fit in.

I guess that's a pretty good thing to consider right now, as I type this with millions of dollars exiting both the equities and cryptocurrency markets in a series of capitulation!

Blank Check is a fun little film made to entertain for just over an hour, and it does precisely that. It's a film that you won't remember every moment of, nor does it really have very memorable moments. It speaks of the era of family films in which there's your shopping spree montage, video games and comics, cozy California-esque neighbourhoods, and actors you probably only ever saw once or twice, do remember, but don't actually remember their names.

Though, you will remember the general concept of Blank Check, because the idea itself is quite fun: a child being given a seeminly unlimited spending power and just going mad with it. It's certainly relatable in that even into our adult lives that we'd want that, just to stupidly indulge in some dumb fun and remember those moments of youth where things didn't really matter, or perhaps we thought didn't really matter.

Somehow, despite its mediocre music, okay cinematography, and typical style of directing, Blank Check still somehow manages to end up in front of my eyes every few years. I wish I knew why; but I won't complain. It is a mild guilty pleasure for the times in which my brain refuses to pay attention to much else. Ironically being a mindless consumer.

Also, it's incredibly weird how they added the female FBI agent that ends up being the kid's love interest. The general crush side of it is fine but creating that one scene towards the end of the film was just strange. Probably could've done without that part; but strangely, another aspect of those 90s and 2000s Disney films.