Illegal Tender

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[2.5
stars] [IMDb Link]

Another movie from the Adjective Noun genre. This one lives up to that low standard.

The story begins with a brief 1980s prologue establishing that Wilson DeLeon, even though he be a gangster, is a pretty decent guy, showing mercy to a shopkeeper his minions have been beating on. Never mind, though, because a few minutes later Wilson spurns his wife's pleas to stay home and enjoy the fortune she's laundered for them, is betrayed by his colleagues, and dies of acute lead poisoning.

We then jump forward to the present day, where Wilson DeLeon, Jr., born on the day his daddy died, is presented to us as a serious college student with a hot car and an even hotter girlfriend. Unfortunately, it turns out (unbeknownst to Junior) the bad guys have been after him and his mom all this time, for reasons that will not be made clear until the end of the movie.

The movie is not without its fun moments, but a lot of them result from the ludicrous plot and dialogue that ranges between unbelievable and pointless. (The NYT review calls it "telenovela dialogue", which, given the Hispanicity of the cast, is a dreadful stereotype, but also probably true.)

The movie's bad-guy professional killers are also probably the most inept to ever appear in a major movie. Their strategy for locating their targets is apparently to wander through northeastern US supermarkets and playgrounds looking for them; no wonder it takes twenty years.


Last Modified 2024-02-01 5:43 AM EDT