FBI agent Shay Stanley (Karen Duffy), at one point in the movie, agrees to go on a “business date” with young Preston. At this point, she doesn’t know that the person she’s investigating — the mysterious Mr. Macintosh — is actually the fake identity that Preston creates so that it will be easier to spend his $1 million. They have a very good time at the end of the night and there’s obvious chemistry between the two, which apparently flew under the creepiness radar back then. The ’90s were a very, very strange time.
Modern-day audiences were understandably outraged when Tiktok user Rob Anderson reminded people about this problematic scene depicting an adult making romantic advances on a pre-teen child (via Daily Mail). What’s even worse is the dialogue that happens right before the kiss. Stanley tells Preston to “give [her] a call in 10 years,” implying that they can have a second date when he’s legally old enough to drink. Then Preston lowballs her, saying he’ll be ready in five years.
They go back and forth until they mutually decide on six years, sealing the pact with the infamous kiss. Keep in mind that in six years, Preston would only be 17 years old, which means their relationship would still be illegal in at least 11 states (state consent laws are complicated) — but not the state of Texas, where the movie was filmed, and where, presumably, the story takes place (via Dunham Law).