Illegal Tender
Metascore
40 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 18 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 18
  3. Negative: 4 out of 18
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  1. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    63
    As it is, Illegal Tender works as a melodrama, and it benefits enormously from the performance of Wanda DeJesus.
  2. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    50
    This tale of crime and punishment is wrapped in a veneer of flashy attitude but founders on mundane details.
  3. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Elizabeth Weitzman
    50
    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.
  4. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    63
    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.
  5. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Rosenbaum
    50
    Pistol-packing De Jesus evokes Pam Grier in spots but certainly holds her own.
  6. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marjorie Baumgarten
    40
    Never transcends its clichés.
  7. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Scott Tobias
    42
    For a film about growing up, Illegal Tender loses itself in a lot of silly juvenilia.
  8. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Kyle Smith
    0
    The real mystery here is why this slapdash semi-effort didn't go straight to video.
  9. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Ann Hornaday
    50
    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.
  10. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Jeannette Catsoulis
    30
    Luridly earnest and laughably immoral, Illegal Tender is an old genre movie with a new look. Call it Hispanixploitation.
  11. Variety
    Reviewed by: Joe Leydon
    60
    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.
  12. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Michael Rechtshaffen
    70
    Quite an entertaining genre piece boasting a terrifically sinewy lead performance from Wanda De Jesus.
  13. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Walter Addiego
    50
    Never gets the mixture right, lurching between bullet-happy shootouts and overwrought domestic content.
  14. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Peter Debruge
    25
    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.
  15. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Tasha Robinson
    38
    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.
  16. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Marc Bernardin
    58
    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.
  17. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Rafer Guzman
    42
    The movie's one bright spot is Gonzalez, a refreshingly natural young actor who needs to get out of B-movies.
  18. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Robert Wilonsky
    40
    We’re too bored to have fun.

User Reviews

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User Score
4.8 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 9 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 6
  3. Negative: 3 out of 6
  1. AlejandroR.
    4
    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.… Full Review »
  2. IreneB.
    9
    This was a great movie! go and see it.
  3. LoriD.
    0
    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!… Full Review »
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