Illegal Tender
Universal Pictures | Release Date: August 24, 2007 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
40
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
3
Mixed:
11
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
70
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
Quite an entertaining genre piece boasting a terrifically sinewy lead performance from Wanda De Jesus. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy 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-TimesRoger Ebert
As it is, Illegal Tender works as a melodrama, and it benefits enormously from the performance of Wanda DeJesus. Read full review
60
VarietyJoe 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 WeeklyMarc 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
Washington PostAnn 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 MagazineMaitland 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 NewsElizabeth 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
50
San Francisco ChronicleWalter Addiego
Never gets the mixture right, lurching between bullet-happy shootouts and overwrought domestic content. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Pistol-packing De Jesus evokes Pam Grier in spots but certainly holds her own. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
For a film about growing up, Illegal Tender loses itself in a lot of silly juvenilia. Read full review
42
Baltimore SunRafer 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
L.A. WeeklyRobert Wilonsky
We’re too bored to have fun. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Never transcends its clichés. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneTasha 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 TimesJeannette 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 HeraldPeter 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 PostKyle Smith
The real mystery here is why this slapdash semi-effort didn't go straight to video. Read full review
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