Disney Movie Accused of Having 'Most Awkward Scene Ever' Over Age-Gap Kiss

A Disney film has been slammed for having the "most awkward scene ever" by viewers over a kiss between two actors with a considerable age gap.

Viewers have expressed outrage at the 1994 film Blank Check, which shows an adult woman kissing a child actor.

The movie stars Brian Bonsall as 12-year-old Preston Waters, alongside Shay Stanley, a 30-something FBI agent posing as a bank teller, played by actress Karen Duffy.

The plot sees the fifth-grader end up with $1 million in cash, and the plot follows Waters' ridiculous escapades as he spends it and evades criminals.

But the far-fetched script isn't the only problematic angle of the movie, after viewers re-watching the movie as adults noticed the questionable kiss shared between the pair.

Waters takes Stanley out for dinner and gives her jewelry, before trying to arrange another date. "So when can I see you again Shay?" he asks, to which she replies: "Why don't you give me a call in, say, about ten years?"

They negotiate the time frame, going from five to seven then six years, which Stanley finally agrees upon, saying: "Ok, it's a date." But shockingly, she then leans in to kiss the middle schooler on the lips.

A snippet of the film was shared to TikTok by Rob Anderson, who said in the on-screen caption: "This Disney movie Blank Check has the most awkward scene ever."

Anderson captioned it "Imagine being this grown actress," with his clip seen nearly 4 million times since being uploaded in 2020.

But his video was shared to Reddit's Trashy forum on Wednesday, by @thetypeotakulike, amassing nearly 13,000 upvotes in just a few hours, igniting a fresh wave of criticism.

While it's not clear exactly when the movie was filmed, Duffy would have been around 32, and Bonsall roughly 13.

"Wait isn't this illegal," Maariyaa asked.

Tcup2020 thought: "As a kid, I remember it being a cool scene. But not anymore."

Klausable7 wrote: "Exactly, I thought it was so cool now, now all I can see is some weird old woman trying to get with a 13 yo."

Robertbnyc asked: "Imagine it was some middle age guy saying that to a 13 year old girl in a Disney movie like wtf."

"Looked this up and the boy actor was 13 And the woman was 32!! In six years he would be 19 but this scene is still wrong," Utterperusal said.

Bong_and_a_blitz commented: "Holy s***!!! I watched this countless times as a kid and can't remember this ever being something that weirded me out... but holy c*** watching that now as an adult Wtf! So wrong."

Smurb15 pointed out: "I'm not saying it excuses it but it was a different time back then. I remember wishing to be in his shoes. I doubt it holds a candle to the nostalgia I have from it."

Electroniclog agreed, saying: "The early 90s were a strange time..."

Some drew parallels with movies with similar plots or scenes, including Big, released in 1988, starring Tom Hanks. Character Josh Baskin is a 12-year-old who wishes to be a grown-up, and wakes up as an adult and shares a kiss with colleague Susan Lawrence, played by Elizabeth Perkins.

Others pointed to the 1996 film, Beautiful Girls, starring Natalie Portman, as portraying similar themes. The young actress was cast as 13-year-old Marty, who develops a crush on Willie, played by Timothy Hutton.

Addressing that role, and ones from that era, Portman previously told People: "I was definitely aware of the fact that I was being portrayed.. as this 'Lolita' figure."

While others drew parallels with the 1994 cult classic Interview With a Vampire, starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Kirsten Dunst.

In it Dunst, then 11, shares a kiss with Pitt, which she later called "gross." In an interview with Yahoo in 2019, she said, referencing the smooch: "Yeah, it was gross! I stand by that.

"It would have been so much creepier if an 11-year-old was like, 'It was great.' You'd be like, 'There's something wrong with this child.'"

Newsweek has reached out to Disney Plus, Bonsall and Duffy for comment.

Correction 10/14/21, 5:55 a.m. ET: This article was amended to change the character's name to the actor's.