1950   - BLANC CHEQUE

Regie: Rupert Wainwright

Acteurs: Brian Bonsall, Karen Duffy, Miguel Ferrer

IT's TOUGH BEING A KID IN MODERN-day material-obsessed America when your mates have more money than y ou, and your ultimate fantasy, therefore, is to have more dosh than anyone else in the world. Such is the opening gambit of this morally dubious Disney caper about ll-year-old Preston Waters (Bonsall) whose bicycle is run over by a Jaguar driven by super crook Quigley (Ferrer), the kind of bad guy who explodes children's balloons with bis cigar. Chased by the cops on to bis money-laundering scheme, Quigley quickly dashes off a cheque to pay for the bike, neglecting in bis haste to fiII in the amount. Preston supplies the missing words -$1 million -and soon he's buying bis own house plus lorry-loads of Coke, Haagen-Dazs, and the produce of any other firm lucky enough to get product placement.

Given the one-gag premise of music video director Wainwright' s feature debut, this is a surprisingly not-too awful, if thoroughly formulaic money-is-evil fable that ultimately offers our pint-sized hero the same cringe-making message that befell Elijah Wood in North -that there's no place like home. The main reason for its watch ability is a commendably restrained and unshowy performance from Bonsall, plus some amusing advice from the lad's slobby-personal chauffeur (Rick Ducmmun).

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