Illegal Tender (2007)

Image credit: Javier Pesquera

PISTOL-PACKIN' MAMA Wanda De Jesus (pictured, with Rick Gonzalez) brings a little firepower to Illegal Tender's mostly meandering coming-of-age tale

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There's a moment, early on in Illegal Tender, when Wilson (Rick Gonzalez), an entitled college whiz, follows his widowed mother (Wanda De Jesus) into the basement of their lush Connecticut manse, where she opens a safe and unloads a cache of guns. This is her secret: that they've been on the run for 20 years because of something his late father, a ''noble'' drug dealer, did. For a second, the movie has the snap of a truly surprising thriller — like a Hispanic Kill Bill — about an aging lioness willing to kill to protect her cub. But then we go back to following the kid, who manages to both mope and strut along the path to manhood.