''Illegal Tender'' is a 2007 American crime film written and directed by Franc. Reyes and produced by

John Singleton John Daniel Singleton (January 6, 1968 April 28, 2019) was an American director, screenwriter, and producer. He made his feature film debut writing and directing ''Boyz n the Hood'' (1991), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for B ...

. It stars

Rick Gonzalez Rick Gonzalez (born June 30, 1979) is an American actor and musician. He is known for his roles as Timo Cruz in the motion picture ''Coach Carter'', as Spanish in '' Old School'', as Ben Gonzalez on the CW supernatural drama television series ' ...

Wanda De Jesus Wanda De Jesus (born August 26, 1958) is an American actress. She was the fourth actress to portray Santana Andrade in NBC's soap opera '' Santa Barbara''. Aside from her work on soap operas, De Jesus appeared in several TV shows in a guest sta ...

and

Dania Ramirez Dania Ramirez (born November 8, 1979) is a Dominican actress. Her credits include the roles of Maya Herrera in '' Heroes'', Alex in '' Entourage'', and Blanca during the last season of ''The Sopranos'' on television. Her film roles include Ale ...

, the film also marks the film debut of Reggaeton music star

Tego Calderón Tegui Calderón Rosario (born February 1, 1972) is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer and actor. He began his musical career in 1996 (as Tego Tec) and was supported by the famous Puerto Rican rapper Eddie Dee, who invited him on his second studio albu ...

.Review of Illegal Tender Movie
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Plot

In 1985,

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, New York, where Millie and Wilson De Leon are expecting their first child. Wilson is a drug dealer working for Javier Cordero. One night, Millie shows Wilson that she has laundered his illegal drug earnings and made high quality investments, eliminating the need for him to continue his life of crime. Wilson goes to a meeting with Javier, who has him killed at the same time that Wilson Jr. is born. In 2006,

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. Millie and Wilson Jr., along with Millie's grade school son Randy, are living in a mansion in Connecticut. Wilson Jr. is in college with an adoring girlfriend named Ana. Wilson Jr. has a difficult relationship with his mother, bothered by the fact that she has multiple boyfriends. After seeing a former friend from her past in a grocery store, Millie tells Randy that they must leave immediately. A heated argument ensues, with Millie finally telling Wilson Jr. that his father was a drug dealer, that Javier is still looking for her, and revealing a hidden stockpile of guns. Wilson is unbowed and stays in the mansion with Ana. That night, Wilson Jr. engages in a massive gunfight with two assassins who attack the house, which does not attract any attention from neighbors nor the police. Despite the gunfight and obvious danger from Javier, Millie decides it is safe for her and Randy to move back to the mansion. The family later see a suspicious man watching them while playing at a nearby park. Wilson Jr., without telling Millie, travels to

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the jur ...

. He visits his Aunt Jessenia, who tells him that he can find Javier at a nightclub called "Mora's". Javier tells him that his mother stole $2 Million

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

from him, has his thugs beat Wilson Jr. and drop him back at his hotel. Upon returning to Connecticut, Wilson finally questions the family's lavish lifestyle. Millie shows her son the investments made, including an unusually astute early investment in Microsoft. Wilson then admits to his meeting with Javier to which Millie becomes infuriated, knowing it was a trick so that Javier could track them down (despite the assassins who had already found them earlier at their mansion). The three De Leon's find themselves in another massive gunfight at their mansion with two more assassins, including the man from the park, who knew how to find them before Wilson Jr.'s trip to San Juan. After another shootout, Millie and Wilson kill their attackers. Despite the massive shootout at the mansion and the two dead men, the Connecticut police are satisfied that it is a meaningless case of unprovoked home invasion, and Millie and Wilson Jr. are able to travel to Puerto Rico to confront Javier. Wilson Jr. returns to "Mora's", where Javier reveals the truth about Wilson Sr. In 1983, Javier had asked Wilson to look after his 15-year-old sister Mora (for whom the nightclub is named). Instead, the married, adult Wilson Sr. began an affair with the underaged Mora, eventually impregnating her in 1985 (at 17) while Millie was already pregnant with Wilson Jr. Mora had called her brother and explained the affair and her pregnancy, expressing her love for Wilson Sr. but knowing that his love for Millie would keep them apart. Mora then committed suicide. Javier had Wilson Sr. killed, hoping he would find relief for the statutory rape and death of his sister. Javier states that Wilson Sr.'s death left him dissatisfied, and will now kill Wilson Jr., but Millie enters the room and shoots Javier dead. Javier's number two, Choco, lets them leave after a brief thanks for handing him control of Javier's crime empire. When Millie asks Wilson Jr. why Javier killed Wilson Sr., he doesn't tell her about the affair with Mora, saying instead that it was about the stolen $2 million.

Cast

as Wilson De Leon, Jr. *

as Millie De Leon (in 2006) *

as Ana * Delilah Cotto as Jessenia (in 2006) *

Zulay Henao Zulay Henao (born March 22, 1979) is a Colombian-American film and television actress. She has co-starred in a number of films such as '' Illegal Tender'' (2007), '' Fighting'' (2009), ''Takers'' (2010), '' Boy Wonder'' (2011), '' Hostel: Part I ...

as Mora Cordero * Carmen Perez as Sonia *

Manny Pérez Manuel Pérez "Manny" Batista (born May 5, 1969) is a Dominican American actor who has appeared in the television series ''Third Watch'' and in the film '' Washington Heights''. He is the cousin of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Junot Diaz. L ...

as Wilson De Leon Sr. *

as "Choco" * Miguel Angel Suarez as Salomon *

Julie Carmen Julie Carmen (born April 4, 1954) is an American actress, dancer and a licensed psychotherapist. She came to prominence onscreen in the 1980s, for her role in John Cassavetes' film, ''Gloria'' (1980), opposite Gena Rowlands. Acting Carmen was ...

as Nilsa

Music

A soundtrack for the film was released to promote the film. It's only available on iTunes, and it includes one song by Tego Calderón, Ava-Mae Curah, Tafari and boasts production by Grammy winning reggae producer Tony Kelly.

Reception

The film earned $3.1 million in U.S. theaters. The film received mostly negative reviews. Review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reports that only 16% of 49 critics gave the film a positive review, with a rating average of 4 out of 10. The site's consensus is that "Lackluster acting and a ridiculous plot make the over-the-top Illegal Tender an unrealistic bust." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a

weighted mean The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

rating out of 100 reviews from film critics, the film has a "mixed or average" rating score of 40 based on 18 reviews.

References

External links

*
Official Website for Illegal Tender
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Illegal Tender (Film) 2007 films 2000s crime films Universal Pictures films Films scored by Heitor Pereira Films set in country houses 2000s English-language films American crime films 2000s American films