GAMES: GameSpot | GameFAQs MUSIC: Last.fm | MP3.com MOVIES: Metacritic | Movietome TV: TV.com
Home | About Metacritic | About Metascores | What's New | Wireless Versions | Discussion Forums | Advertising Inquiries | Contact Us | RSS
Metacritic.com: We Deal With Criticism
     Help
> Switch to Advanced Search  
Film Video/DVD Music Games TV

Film

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

 

Wide Releases

sort by name sort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

 

Limited Releases

sort by name sort by score

67 $9.99
75 24 City
66 Adoration
74 Afghan Star
48 Alien Trespass
56 American Violet
82 Anvil! The Story of Anvil
57 Away We Go
81 Beaches of Agnes, The
62 Big Man Japan
28 Big Shot-Caller, The
78 Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55 Brothers Bloom, The
82 Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
xx Call of the Wild
63 Cheri
62 Cherry Blossoms
63 Dead Snow
65 Departures
18 Downloading Nancy
58 Easy Virtue
70 End of the Line, The
77 Every Little Step
64 Examined Life
80 Food, Inc.
38 Gigantic
56 Girl from Monaco, The
67 Girlfriend Experience, The
87 Gomorrah
89 Goodbye Solo
63 Great Buck Howard, The
79 Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx Home
82 Hunger
91 Hurt Locker, The
16 I Hate Valentine's Day
81 Il Divo
54 Is Anybody There?
71 Jerichow
58 Julia
74 Lemon Tree
36 Life is Hot in Cracktown
40 Limits of Control, The
42 Little Ashes
64 Lymelife
50 Management
57 Merry Gentleman, The
66 Moon
35 New York
62 Not Forgotten
xx Offshore
78 O'Horten
64 Outrage
40 Paris 36
54 Pontypool
71 Pressure Cooker
52 Quiet Chaos
83 Revanche
67 Rudo y Cursi
86 Seraphine
65 Sex Positive
70 Shall We Kiss?
77 Sin Nombre
59 Sleep Dealer
74 Song of Sparrows, The
54 Stoning of Soraya M., The
82 Sugar
84 Summer Hours
61 Sunshine Cleaning
28 Surveillance
42 Tennessee
63 Tetro
64 Throw Down Your Heart
80 Tokyo Sonata
63 Tokyo!
70 Tony Manero
74 Treeless Mountain
88 Tulpan
74 Two Lovers
83 Tyson
83 U2 3D
60 Under Our Skin
69 Unmistaken Child
69 Valentino: The Last Emperor
22 What Goes Up
45 Whatever Works
57 Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

 



Printer-Friendly Version Email This Page Discuss In Our Forums

Illegal Tender
Universal Studios

Illegal Tender reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 40 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
3.2 out of 10
based on 18 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 7 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: R for violence, language and some sexuality

Starring Rick Gonzalez, Wanda De Jesus, J. Tom Archuleta, Tego Calderon, Julie Carmen, Delilah Cotto, and Michael Philip Del Rio

After the gangsters who killed his father come to settle a score, a teenage boy and his mother turn the tables on the killers. This is the story of one Latino family's quest for honor and revenge, as the hunted become the hunters. (Universal Studios)


GENRE(S): Crime  |  Drama  |  Suspense/Thriller  
WRITTEN BY: Franc. Reyes  
DIRECTED BY: Franc. Reyes  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: December 18, 2007 
Theatrical: August 24, 2007 
RUNNING TIME: 108 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

70
The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen
Quite an entertaining genre piece boasting a terrifically sinewy lead performance from Wanda De Jesus.
Read Full Review
63
Boston Globe Ty Burr
The movie's a genuine oddity: a Latino action drama with one foot in bullet-spitting genre flicks -- '70s blaxploitation and '80s coke-kingpin films are the primary reference points -- and the other in raggedly personal family melodrama.
Read Full Review
63
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
As it is, Illegal Tender works as a melodrama, and it benefits enormously from the performance of Wanda DeJesus.
Read Full Review
60
Variety Joe Leydon
Too muted to have much lasting impact, and remains modestly diverting only on a scene-to-scene basis. There's no quotable dialogue, no standout action sequence, no flashy supporting performances -- in short, nothing to lift Illegal Tender from the level of competent but inconsequential B-movie.
Read Full Review
58
Entertainment Weekly Marc Bernardin
For a second, the movie has the snap of a truly surprising thriller -- like a Hispanic "Kill Bill" -- about an aging lioness willing to kill to protect her cub.
Read Full Review
50
Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
Pistol-packing De Jesus evokes Pam Grier in spots but certainly holds her own.
Read Full Review
50
San Francisco Chronicle Walter Addiego
Never gets the mixture right, lurching between bullet-happy shootouts and overwrought domestic content.
Read Full Review
50
Washington Post Ann Hornaday
A throwback to 1970s blaxploitation flicks, with a Latin accent, Illegal Tender would be a brassy, sassy guilty pleasure if it were more, well, pleasurable.
Read Full Review
50
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
This tale of crime and punishment is wrapped in a veneer of flashy attitude but founders on mundane details.
Read Full Review
50
New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
What kind of movie is misdirected, poorly acted, preposterously written--and still wholly entertaining? A B-movie, of course. While Illegal Tender has misguided pretensions towards Serious Filmmaking, it's surprisingly likeable if you see it instead as a cheesy thriller good for a lazy Friday night.
Read Full Review
42
The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
For a film about growing up, Illegal Tender loses itself in a lot of silly juvenilia.
Read Full Review
42
Baltimore Sun Rafer Guzman
The movie's one bright spot is Gonzalez, a refreshingly natural young actor who needs to get out of B-movies.
Read Full Review
40
Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
Never transcends its clichés.
Read Full Review
40
LA Weekly Robert Wilonsky
We’re too bored to have fun.
Read Full Review
38
Chicago Tribune Tasha Robinson
Illegal Tender echoes "A History of Violence," another gritty film that explores escaping a criminal past. But the vast vapidity behind Illegal Tender's ill-conceived story line is far harder to overcome.
Read Full Review
30
The New York Times Jeannette Catsoulis
Luridly earnest and laughably immoral, Illegal Tender is an old genre movie with a new look. Call it Hispanixploitation.
Read Full Review
25
Miami Herald Peter Debruge
Illegal Tender is the sort of crime movie in which nothing, not one detail, has been observed from real life; it's composed entirely of fantasies and falsehoods lifted from bad movies and hip-hop videos.
Read Full Review
0
New York Post Kyle Smith
The real mystery here is why this slapdash semi-effort didn't go straight to video.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 3.2 (out of 10) based on 7 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Alejandro R. gave it a4:
This movie was not so good. The main actor is Rick Gonzalez, thats not saying much right there. This is the guy thats in Coach Carter in the background most of the time and in War of the Worlds for less than 2 minutes, wow what a resume! Nobody could act in this movie. On top of that, its long and repetitive. It has some gun shots, but its still not very entertaining.

Irene B. gave it a9:
This was a great movie! go and see it.

Lori D. gave it a0:
I am Puerto Rican and was disgusted with this movie. As if Latinos don't have enough stereotypes against them! I'm 25 from the Bronx, and I don't talk with a Rosie Perez accent. Why does every movie with a Hispanic actor have to find these actors with those ridiculous accents? I don't talk like that! It's unrealistic....Can we start looking for actors who speak properly even though they're hispanic? Why aren't we seeing more Hispanics in positive movies, and not the damn stereotypical violence,sex, money, and drugs theme over and over again? Pretty disturbing if you ask me! The movie lacked suspense, the main character finds his father's killers way to easily and the movie finishes! UM YAH WHERE'S THE THRILL IN THAT? Let's throw that one in the mix with Hector Lavoe!

Kema gave it a0:
This could have been told in 20 minutes. The plot was so outright dumb, I can't believe Singleton put his mark on this garbage. The plot was way ridiculous. Not trying to dis the Director, but maybe he should learn to write a film B4 going to Hollywood with this. An embarrassment.

Hugo R. gave it a10:
it was a very good movie you should see it

Jared C. gave it a0:
What? This is the corniest and weakest Crime drama movie ever. especially if you watch The Departed, wow, this one looks bad.

Discuss this movie in our forums

Return to top of page
Home | FILM | DVD/VIDEO | MUSIC | GAMES | TV | Forums | About Metacritic metacritic.com

Popular on CBS sites: iPhone 3G | Fantasy Football | Moneywatch | Antivirus Software | Recipes | E3 2009

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use