Mr Birdman's Movie Reviews · Joshua Birdwell

Blank Check

·22 min·5 clips

Mr. Birdman opens with Blank Check as a 1994 Disney comedy about Preston Waters. He names the main cast and gets the setup on the table quickly. Preston accidentally gets a check for a million dollars. He spends it. Three criminals then spend the rest of the story trying to get the money back. Before the plot really settles in, Mr. Birdman pauses for a personal memory about first hearing of the movie in 1999, when he was turning 10. He ties that memory to a birthday party, early January weather, and the fact that there is not much a kid can do at that time of year. That detour becomes part of the review’s shape instead of just a quick aside. Once he returns to the movie, he starts picking through the supporting characters and the bank scene. He calls attention to Quigley, played by Miguel Ferrer, and makes a joke about the character named Juice. He then lands on Biederman and spends time on the way that character looks and sounds. He repeats another reviewer’s comparison and then pushes it further with his own joke about the actor having Roger Ebert’s body, Wayne Knight’s voice, and Jay Leno’s hair. He keeps the focus on Preston walking into the bank and being noticed by Shea Stanley, the pretty female banker. He notes that Preston is told he needs more money to open an account. After that, Preston leaves and the trouble keeps building. Butch steals Preston’s birthday check. That leads into a bike chase and more chaos. Quigley does not leave the family’s life without making things worse. Mr. Birdman is especially hung up on how the parents care more about the bike than Preston almost being run over. He uses that moment to underline how lousy the family feels from Preston’s point of view. Preston then uses his computer to print a blank check for a million dollars. By the end, Mr. Birdman thinks the cast looks like they had fun making the movie, but he does not think that fun reaches the audience. He closes by saying the film left him disappointed, while still acknowledging that only a couple of episodes so far have landed that way. He ends by inviting people to watch Blank Check on Disney Plus and decide for themselves.

As heard by us

A shaggy, nostalgic Blank Check revisit that values memory and candor over polish.

Mr. Birdman takes on Blank Check with a memory-first pace that matches the movie's own plain hook: Preston gets a million-dollar check, spends it, and everything goes sideways.

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Why you'd press play

A million-dollar check, a birthday-memory detour, and plenty of movie-grump energy.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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