Paid in Full – Review

Paid in Full – 2002 – Crime, Drama

Directed by: Charles Stone III
Written by: Matthew Cirulnick; Thulani Davis; Azie Faison Jr.; Austin Phillips
Main Players: Mekhi Phifer; Wood Harris; Cam’Ron; Chi McBride; Esai Morales; Kevin Carroll; Regina Hall

Paid In Full Poster

This overlooked “based on a true story” crime saga features flashy narcotic provider Money Makin’ Mitch (Phifer) and his longtime buddy Ace (Harris), who also gets sucked up into the world of money, drugs, power and respect. Ace quickly decides that working a dead-end dry-cleaning job won’t get him the status, cars, finances or women that he wants and can’t help but notice surrounding him. Set in Harlem in the 1980s, the atmosphere is infused with old school vibes and tunes.

Prophetically, Ace gets connected with a cocaine supplier who left some of his product in some pants to be cleaned at the stop. This top-quality distributor (Morales) quickly puts Ace at the top of the drug game with premier product. Ace, Mitch and their loose cannon muscle Rico (Cam’Ron) form a rough and rugged triumvirate, slowly taking over the neighborhoods and running out rival dealers.

While it’s always great to be a kingpin, sometimes there is only one way to go from that point: down. As plot turns come together, this movie brings dark violence and consequences to match its flashy drug-dealing focus. While this movie may seem like it glorifies drug dealing, there are sharp moral lessons and violent consequences laced into the script. Knowing that most of the events are true, especially the violent ones, brings a cold realness to the affair. Ace is based on real-life dealer Azie Faison Jr., who helped craft the autobiographical flick.

Multiple other hip-hop world players make quick appearances including N.O.R.E., Doug E. Fresh, Damon Dash, Angie Martinez, and of course the movie title is borrowed from Eric B. & Rakim’s track.

Fun bonus fact: This movie contains rapper Lil Wayne’s favorite movie quote of all time, “You got 14 bricks in that bag right there?” however, this is not his favorite movie of all time, which is The Sixth Sense.

See This If You Liked:

Juice; Belly; Menace II Society; New Jack City; Fresh; American Me; Boyz N the Hood; In Too Deep; Set It Off

Score:

7.0

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