Illegal Tender

Quite an entertaining genre piece boasting a terrifically sinewy lead performance from Wanda De Jesus.

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.

Never gets the mixture right, lurching between bullet-happy shootouts and overwrought domestic content.

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.

For a film about growing up, Illegal Tender loses itself in a lot of silly juvenilia.

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.

The real mystery here is why this slapdash semi-effort didn't go straight to video.