Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Movies

Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores

Wide Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Limited Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

58 (Untitled)
96 35 Shots of Rum
56 Adam
72 Adela
39 Adventures of Power
78 Afghan Star
61 After the Storm
66 Afterschool
xx All the Best
58 American Casino
72 Amreeka
48 Antichrist
73 Araya
62 Art & Copy
55 As Seen Through These Eyes
76 Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86 Beaches of Agnes, The
13 Beautiful Life, A
70 Beeswax
35 Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
71 Big Fan
66 Black Dynamite
51 Blind Date
xx Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
76 Bliss
35 Blue Tooth Virgin, The
26 Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57 Boys Are Back, The
45 Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81 Bright Star
70 Bronson
45 Burning Plain, The
xx Carriers
55 Casi Divas
57 Chelsea on the Rocks
62 Cloud 9
65 Coco Before Chanel
69 Cold Souls
59 Collapse
44 Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82 Cove, The
75 Crude
82 Damned United, The
67 Departures
xx Dil Bole Hadippa
71 Disgrace
xx Do Knot Disturb
70 Earth Days
24 Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat
85 Education, An
55 Endgame
xx Eulogy for a Vampire
xx Everyone Else
xx Fatal Promises
56 Fifty Dead Men Walking
62 Five Minutes of Heaven
74 Flame & Citron
49 Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80 Food, Inc.
28 Free Style
xx From Mexico with Love
50 Fuel
25 Gentlemen Broncos
50 Give Me Your Hand
58 Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72 Good Hair
89 Goodbye Solo
52 Grace
66 Harmony and Me
81 Headless Woman, The
xx Heretics, The
63 Horse Boy, The
73 House of the Devil, The
xx How to Seduce Difficult Women
74 Humpday
94 Hurt Locker, The
29 I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16 If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75 In Search of Beethoven
83 In the Loop
61 Intimate Enemies
42 Irene in Time
70 It Might Get Loud
46 Killing Kasztner
19 Labor Day
xx Laila's Birthday
41 Little Ashes
41 Little Traitor, The
66 Liverpool
34 Looking for Palladin
80 Lorna's Silence
83 Maid, The
xx Ministers, The
59 More Than a Game
67 Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34 Motherhood
62 My One and Only
xx Mystery Team
48 New York, I Love You
73 Night and Day
66 No Impact Man
47 Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34 Other Man, The
xx Painter Sam Francis, The
54 Paper Heart
xx Paradise
68 Paranormal Activity
68 Paris
44 Peter and Vandy
35 Play the Game
77 Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx Pretty Ugly People
65 Providence Effect, The
76 Rembrandt's J'accuse
69 September Issue, The
79 Serious Man, A
40 Shrink
61 Skin
77 Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx Skiptracers
46 Splinterheads
39 St. Trinian's
89 Still Walking
50 Stoning of Soraya M., The
55 Storm
65 Tetro
70 That Evening Sun
72 Thirst
xx Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61 Trucker
xx Turning Green
83 U2 3D
66 Unmade Beds
66 Unmistaken Child
70 Visual Acoustics
55 Walt & El Grupo
67 Way We Get By, The
69 We Live in Public
64 Wedding Song, The
64 Where is Where?
xx White on Rice
74 Woman in Berlin, A
69 World's Greatest Dad
70 Yes Men Fix the World
69 Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx You, the Living

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Illegal Tender

EMAILPRINTUniversal Studios

Illegal Tender reviews
40
3.2 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 18 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 7 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >

Movie Info

Genre(s): Crime  |  Drama  |  Suspense/Thriller

Written by: Franc. Reyes

Directed by: Franc. Reyes

Release Date:
Theatrical: August 24, 2007
DVD: December 18, 2007

Running Time: 108 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

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)

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

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.

Popular on CBS sites: SEC Football | NFL | Video Game Cheats | iPhone | Video Game Reviews | Notebooks | Antivirus Software

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

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