After the gangsters who killed his father come to settle a score, a teenage boy and his mother turn the tables on the killers - one Latino family's quest for honor and revenge as the hunted become the hunters.
For a film about growing up, Illegal Tender loses itself in a lot of silly juvenilia.
– Scott Tobias,
AV Club,
25 Aug 2007
rotten:
What in God's name was going on with this movie?
– Richard Roeper,
Ebert & Roeper,
27 Aug 2007
fresh:
It's hard to shake the impression that this movie has the sort of penny-pinching authenticity Quentin Tarantino's been trying for his entire career.
– Mark Holcomb,
Time Out New York,
30 Aug 2007
rotten:
More care seems to have been taken with the cut of Gonzalez's sideburns than with the shape of the story, and the hyperbolic soundtrack does most of the work of the mise en scene.
– Jonathan Rosenbaum,
Chicago Reader,
3 Dec 2007
rotten:
An entertaining genre piece boasting a terrifically sinewy lead performance from Wanda De Jesus.