IGN.com|AskMen.com|Rotten Tomatoes|GameSpy|FilePlanet|TeamXbox|CheatsCodesGuides|GameStats|Direct2Drive

RottenTomatoes.com

Register | Log In | What is RT?
It's our 10th birthday, so you get presents!
Home Movies DVD Celebrities News Critics Photos & Trailers The Vine Forums
Box Office | In Theaters | Opening | Upcoming | Best Of | Certified Fresh | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
 
MOVIES / ON DVD / KILL THE POOR
Kill the Poor

Rate This Movie

Write a Review
Share This Movie
Add to List
Buy DVD
Buy Poster

Bookmark and Share

Kill the Poor (2006)

25%
20%
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
25 %
Reviews Counted: 8 Fresh: 2  Rotten:6 Average Rating: 5.3/10

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Runtime: 86 mins

Synopsis: "Kill The Poor" is the story of Joe Peltz (David Krumholtz), a young man in 1980s New York, who buys into a squatter tenement in the Lower East Side neighborhood where his immigrant grandparents first settled, hoping to make a life for his new wife Annabelle (Clara Bellar) and the baby they have... "Kill The Poor" is the story of Joe Peltz (David Krumholtz), a young man in 1980s New York, who buys into a squatter tenement in the Lower East Side neighborhood where his immigrant grandparents first settled, hoping to make a life for his new wife Annabelle (Clara Bellar) and the baby they have on the way. From the start, the former tenants of the apartment, and heads of "the corporation" that run the co-op, warn Joe and Annabelle that living in the building will be more than they bargained for, and that their relationship may not survive. Joe's Uncle Yakov (Cliff Gorman) is constantly reminding him that this "war zone" is not his grandmother's neighborhood anymore - there are junkies sleeping in his grandfather's old tailor shop, the building where his mother was born is now a vacant lot, you can't even find the synagogue, and the corner bodega has been shut down for selling human meat. But this apartment is all they can afford, and Joe is determined to make it work. As Joe struggles to keep himself and his marriage together, the building's problems begin to take over his life: the never-ending "board meetings" about whose responsibility it is to sleep in the doorway to keep the junkies out; the constant debate about how to get rid of Carlos (Paul Calderon), a bully who refuses to pay rent because he lived in the building before everyone else; the hoodlum antics of Carlos' teenage son Segundo (John Budinoff); grungy goddess Scarlet (Heather Burns) bed hopping her way through all of the male tenants, from underground artist Spike (Larry Gilliard Jr.), to home boy Negrito (Otto Sanchez), to part-time grad student/political activist Butch (Zak Orth); and drag queen Delilah (Damien Young keeping everyone abreast of the latest gossip. All of the simmering tensions in the building come to a boil when a mysterious fire erupts in Carlos' apartment, and Joe, now President of "the corporation," is assigned the task of dealing with it. "Kill The Poor" is a rueful and darkly comic tale about the quest to achieve the American Dream, on the Urban frontier. -- © IFC Films [More]

Genre: Dramas

Starring: Clara Bellar, Paul Calderon, Heather Burns, Larry Gilliard, Cliff Gorman

Director: Alan Taylor
Screenwriter: Daniel Handler
Producer: Alexis Alexanian, John Malkovich, Gary Winick, Russell Smith

DVD Info

Release:

Sep 12, 2006

[DVD Details]

Buy It On DVD

Reviews

 
T-Meter Critics
 
 
Top Critics
 
 
RT Community
 
 
My Critics
 
 
My Friends
 
 
DVD
 
 
 
1 - 8 (sorted by date)
Text View
Arrange By: Name | Fresh | Rotten | Date | Source
 
 
Ratings Image
B-

In spite of its oddities, [Kill the Poor] pulls off a memorable story.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/27/06
Tasha Robinson
Onion AV Club
Ratings Image
C-

Can utopian ideals survive such a mugging by reality?

Full Review | comment Comment
01/18/06
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
2/4

Nowhere near as provocative as its title might imply.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/07/06
Ed Gonzalez
Slant Magazine
Ratings Image
2.5/4

Alan Taylor's film will resonate with any New Yorker who's played real-estate roulette in Fun City.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/06/06
Ken Fox
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Ratings Image
2/4

KILL the Poor is sort of a poor man's Rent - - minus the music and the AIDS - - and much blander than the title would have you expect.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/06/06
Lou Lumenick
New York Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
2/5

This lukewarm riff on gentrification and its discontents resurrects the low life and tough times of Alphabet City in the early 1980's.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/05/06
Nathan Lee
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
2/4

A movie with more character than narrative, it's a showcase for the actors, but the storyline could have used some urban renewal.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/05/06
John Anderson
Newsday
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
N/A

Shot on a modest DV budget, Kill the Poor isn't pretty, but it's a balanced look at the dirty politics of gentrification.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/03/06
Benjamin Strong
Village Voice
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
1 - 8 (sorted by date)
Text View
See More Topics...

Related Forums

Click here to be the first to post a message on this forum.

Around the Network

• Kill the Poor at Rotten Tomatoes
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Celebs List| Newsletter

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | ModCenter | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2008, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.