Harsh 'hood reality and good acting? Now that's quite a score.
Comment
10/25/02
Paid in Full (2002)
51
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:41
Fresh:21
Rotten:20
Average Rating:5.8/10
Consensus: Though well-acted and non-exploitative, Paid in Full treads a very well-worn story.
Reviews for Paid in Full
Very familiar, yes, but a stylish and above all well-acted tale of friendships gone sour and the inevitable steep price of crime -- a much better movie than it’s ever going to get credit for.
10/28/02
If there's a way to effectively teach kids about the dangers of drugs, I think it's in projects like the (unfortunately R-rated) Paid.
10/25/02
"Paid In Full" is not the kind of movie that George W. Bush will ever see.
11/21/05
Click to read the article
10/24/02
Paid in Full is remarkably engaging despite being noticeably derivative of Goodfellas and at least a half dozen other trouble-in-the-ghetto flicks.
10/22/02
It does offer an uncommon thoughtfulness that makes it far less exploitative or sensationalistic than most examples of its genre.
10/25/02
Top CriticThough filmed partly in Canada, Paid in Full has clever ways of capturing inner-city life during the Reagan years.
10/24/02
An intelligent crime drama, not because of the criminal activity it dramatizes but because of its powerful examination of the forces that drive criminals.
10/24/02
Bolstered by exceptional performances and a clear-eyed take on the economics of dealing and the pathology of ghetto fabulousness.
10/24/02
For a rapsploitation film to target and frown upon the darker forces of its nature is certainly a good sign for the maturation of the genre.
11/03/02
Rings true, from the smooth dialogue to the unaffected performances of the central actors.
10/25/02
Harris and Phifer's chemistry lends the inevitable tragedies some genuine punch.
01/27/09
It's good, hard-edged stuff, violent and a bit exploitative but also nicely done, morally alert and street-smart.
10/24/02
Stone seems to have a knack for wrapping the theater in a cold blanket of urban desperation.
11/15/02
I'm going to give it a marginal thumbs up. I liked it just enough.
10/29/02
...does such a fine job of engulfing you in its world and allying you with its characters' choices, good and ill, that its shortcomings are remembered only as an afterthought.
10/22/02
This is a heartfelt mea culpa -- which gives Paid in Full much of its unexpected emotional power.
10/26/02
Instead of a hyperbolic beat-charged urban western, it's an unpretentious, sociologically pointed slice of life.
10/24/02
Top CriticThis familiar rise-and-fall tale is long on glamour and short on larger moralistic consequences, though it's told with sharp ears and eyes for the tenor of the times.
10/25/02
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