Paid in Full (2002)
Average Rating: 5.8/10
Reviews Counted: 41
Fresh: 21 | Rotten: 20
Though well-acted and non-exploitative, Paid in Full treads a very well-worn story.
Average Rating: 5.9/10
Critic Reviews: 18
Fresh: 9 | Rotten: 9
Though well-acted and non-exploitative, Paid in Full treads a very well-worn story.
liked it
Average Rating: 4.3/5
User Ratings: 19,232
My Rating
Movie Info
Paid in Full marks the feature debut of director Charles Stone III, who rose to fame after creating Budweiser's "Wassup" commercials. The urban gangster drama is loosely based on the true story of 1980s Harlem drug kingpins AZ, Rich Porter, and Alpo. (This story was also the basis for a documentary, Game Over (Part 1).) Ace (Wood Harris) works at a laundromat, struggling to get by, while his friend Mitch (Mekhi Phifer) lives the high life selling heroin. His sister's boyfriend, Calvin (Kevin
Oct 25, 2002 Wide
Apr 8, 2003
$3.0M
Dimension Films
Watch It Now
Cast
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Wood Harris
Ace -
Mekhi Phifer
Mitch -
Kevin Carroll
Calvin -
Esai Morales
Lulu -
Chi McBride
Pip -
Cam'ron
Rico -
Remo Green
Sonny -
Cynthia Martells
Dora -
Elise Neal
Aunt Jane -
Regina Hall
Kiesha -
Angie Martinez
Girl in Car -
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Paid in Full Trailer & Photos
All Critics (49) | Top Critics (20) | Fresh (21) | Rotten (20) | DVD (5)
I'm going to give it a marginal thumbs up. I liked it just enough.
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.
Needed a little less bling-bling and a lot more romance.
Rings true, from the smooth dialogue to the unaffected performances of the central actors.
A fake street drama that keeps telling you things instead of showing them.
Harris and Phifer's chemistry lends the inevitable tragedies some genuine punch.
"Paid In Full" is not the kind of movie that George W. Bush will ever see.
Stone seems to have a knack for wrapping the theater in a cold blanket of urban desperation.
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.
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.
The story is familiar from its many predecessors; like them, it eventually culminates in the not-exactly -stunning insight that crime doesn't pay.
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April 5, 2011:
The Eight Highest-Paid Entertainment CEOsNow here are some guys who see a lot of zeroes on their paychecks.
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