Movie Mom

Movie Mom

Illegal Tender

posted by Nell Minow
C
Lowest Recommended Age:High School
MPAA Rating:Rated R for violence, language and some sexuality.
Profanity:Very strong language, n-word in song lyrics
Nudity/Sex:Nudity, sexual references, brief explicit sexual situation
Alcohol/Drugs:Characters are drug dealers, drinking
Violence/Scariness:Intense and graphic violence, shoot-outs, torture, beatings, suicide
Diversity Issues:Diverse characters
Movie Release Date:2007

There’s a chance, but a very slight chance that 20 years from now this could be one of those films whose pulpiness overcomes its dopiness. But I doubt it.


Oh, it is fun to see Wanda de Jesus get all Pam Grier and shoot off two big guns at once after making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for her son. But the big dumb story and the big dumb dialogue keep getting in the way.


It begins in 1985, when drug dealer-but-nice-guy Wilson De Leon (Manny Perez) is killed on the same night his son, Wilson Jr., is born.


Fast forward to the present day. Wilson Junior (now played by the always-appealing Rick Gonzalez) is a student at genteel Danbury College. He lives with his mother (de Jesus as the older Millie) and little brother Randy (Antonio Ortiz) in a luxurious home in the suburbs of Connecticut. But everything changes when Millie runs into a friend from the old days. She knows this means that the men who killed her husband will be coming after her and her sons. She takes Wilson down into the cellar and opens up the safe. Inside are enough guns to arm a militia. “It’s called weight,” she explains.


But that is about all she explains. When he refuses to go on the run with Millie and Randy, she leaves him a gun and tells him to protect himself. Soon he is practicing his shooting face and taking aim at some tin cans. And soon after that he is taking aim at some assassins who come to his house, where he is staying with his girlfriend Ana (Dania Ramirez).


Her role in the story is to keep asking what is going on in a loud voice as the drug lord’s goons are tramping through the house shooting everything and call at inconvenient moments to tell Wilson she is worried. I’d be worried, too — Wilson and his mother return to the house when the bad guys are after them. Then, when they are after the bad guys, they stop for some retail therapy to pick up some bling. Millie’s explanation of her income (“You bought Microsoft?”) and justification for her late husband’s career choice (“everyone has stains”) is as silly as the rumble on the soundtrack that always seems to alert her to impending danger. A couple of developments near the end are intended to be plot twists, but there is so little to qualify here as plot that they are more like plot nudges. There isn’t much dialogue, either. At least a third of it seems to be various people saying “Wilson” when they speak to him, as though we need to be reminded who he is. And the other two-thirds is soapy tripe like, “Oh, God, I want this to end!”

Yeah. Me, too.

Parents should know that this is an intense and violent film with graphic images of shoot-outs, beatings, and torture. Characters are in peril and many are injured and killed and a character commits suicide. Characters are drug dealers and gangsters and some drink wine, champagne, and alcohol. They use strong language, including the n-word in song lyrics. The movie includes sexual references and brief explicit situations, dancers in skimpy clothes, and brief nudity.


Families who see this movie should talk about what Wilson and his mother told each other and did not tell each other.

Audiences who enjoy this movie will enjoy Pam Grier classics like Coffy.



You Might Also Like...
Previous Posts

Linda Holmes: Where Are the Women in Movies?
Linda Holmes of NPR's Monkey See blog has written a piece that is more than the usual "Why aren't there more women in/making movies?" There are 617 movie showings today — that's just today, Friday — within 10 miles of my house. Of those 617 showings, 561 of them — 90 percent — are storie

posted 3:59:07pm Jun. 18, 2013 | read full post »

Claire LaZebnik Remembers A Visit from Patricia Neal
Claire LaZebnik wrote a beautiful piece in the Wall Street Journal about a visit from the late Oscar-winning actress Patricia Neal.  The first movie I ever reviewed -- for my high school paper -- was Neal's comeback film, "The Subject Was Roses" (with a very young Martin Sheen as her son).  Neal

posted 8:00:26am Jun. 18, 2013 | read full post »

Opening This Week: World War Z and Monsters University
It's one of the biggest weeks of the year at the movies with two huge openings.  It's the zombie apocalypse vs. monsters, Brad Pitt vs. Mike and Sully. Pitt stars in a movie based on World War Z, a book by Max Brooks (son of Oscar-winners Anne Bancroft and Mel Brooks).  It is directed by Marc F

posted 3:59:28pm Jun. 17, 2013 | read full post »

Contest: Jack the Giant Slayer -- and An Exclusive Look at the New "Jack the Giant Slayer" Game for Kids
I really enjoyed Jack the Giant Slayer, next week's DVD/Blu-Ray Pick of the Week, and I am very excited to have five copies to give away.  Send me an email at moviemom@moviemom.com with "Jack" in the subject line, and tell me your favorite fairy tale.  Don't forget your address!  (US addresses on

posted 7:00:23am Jun. 17, 2013 | read full post »

Quiz: Father's Day Movies
How many of these can you identify? 1. This movie is based on the true story of a pioneering "motion study" couple (efficiency, occupational safety, and ergonomics) engineer who brought their techniques to family life. 2. What movie has a widower with a young son who almost marries the wrong w

posted 3:35:25pm Jun. 16, 2013 | read full post »

Advertisement
Comments Post the First Comment »
post a comment

Post a Comment

By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.





Report as Inappropriate

You are reporting this content because it violates the Terms of Service.

All reported content is logged for investigation.