Truly Dreadful Film

Sorry, this movie sucks

Excellent but underrated film

A Major Disappointment

Paid in full is a movie about a good kid from the ghetto who is seduced into the local drug trade. In the beginning of the movie the main character Ace is seen as a quite kid from Harlem who works for a local tailor. Surrounded by the distribution, consumption, and glorification of drugs. Ace resists the temptation as he sees his friends become involved, but soon falls victim to his surroundings. Personally I had no interests in watching this movie. But it seemed like EVERYONE had seen it. (so i finally sat down and watched it) Surprisingly I really liked it. I don't think anyone should follow the path presented in this movie but I do think it can teach lessons. Such as the easy road isn't always best, or not to trust the people around you. Over all its a movie everyone should watch at least once.

Charles Stone III knows where to put his characters and how to handle them. He knows where he wants to tell his stories because he has filmed in similar places in his movies. He knows about directing actors, about keeping the spectator focused on the film…His writers know about the way the characters talk, and about creating an interesting story that comes from real life so the viewer doesn't get bored…The team knew what they were doing messing with "Paid in Full".This piece comes in the groove of the movies we see from time to time about life in the neighborhood ("hood"), black people and their relationships, money problems, hard life, "this is how we do it here" and the other stuff…Phrases and situations like this are all over this film; combined with an appropriate sense of reality and personality.There wouldn't be success in these movies if it wasn't for the characters. They're so important because they have the responsibility of making the story different. It's always the same things, what usually happens; but the characters are the ones that change and we get to know the life of every one of them. And that's probably the magic the movie achieves, because it's about these raw-written, really developed and peculiar characters. It's about the way they are talking, saying "my n...", "this n...", "my man" and lots of other expressions. It's about changes in a place that seems to be the same all the time, from the outside; but it's different from the inside. Changes that occur because of (and I come back because it's the way it is) the characters.The movie starts as many others these days, giving a glance of the present. Quick, simple, for you to contemplate a character bleeding as he sees (or imagines) notes falling from the sky. Then we are taken to the past; to see what happened before the "glance": in the beginning. Like most of the times, the situations in the past take more time of the film than the ones in the present. I won't mention anything about these situations that involve, among other things, a guy who worked in a dry cleaner but then became the king of money and drugs; another guy who had the money to help his family and to buy nice things before he screwed up, a guy who is fascinated with money and can't control it; the women that celebrate or suffer for the men's actions.Wood Harris plays Ace, the one who tells the story; and there's a reason why he tells it: in his story things will go right or wrong to the people, but they will all experience something because everything is connected. Harris finds the perfect note for the role, with the correct tone of voice each time he's saying something, and the mix of innocent and intelligent looks. I saw him in "Hendrix" so I recognized his face; but this is another performance by a promising actor. Mekhi Phifer consolidated his name in Hollywood long ago. He shocked me with his role in the powerful "O" and I couldn't recognize him as Future in "8 mile". He adds up another powerful performance to his list as Mitch; we'll be seeing Mekhi around. Newcomer in the acting scene, Cam'Ron, screams too much and puts arrogant faces, and I can't know if he's doing it right because I haven't seen him before. He didn't seem out of place, but it was kind of awkward. I should also mention Chi McBride wandering around the scenes with a lot of style. The rest of the cast (female and male and younger), achieved amazingly by pros Kerry Barden, Billy Hopkins and Suzanne Smith (experienced in casting people for films of this type), accomplish decent performances just to match everything with the story.What's left for director Charles Stone III is to give some revealing and profound shots in the movie's most dramatic scenes, lead his actors to their glory and generate a realistic environment that traps anyone who sees it. The film editing is also remarkable. All work of the team, messing with the film.Because the characters in the film mess with each other, and it's a messy film, you don't know why Ace keeps seeing notes falling from the sky, and from where he is telling the story he narrates. We just listen to it; but in some way the movie could be also messing with us.

I was scanning through the channels one night and stopped on this film. Man, was I glad. It's nice to see the filmmakers trust the audience and their film by not cluttering up scenes with music. The silence was golden. Great direction, great acting and great music! I could tell this was based on a true story. It was so edgy and gritty it could not have been made up. The hardest part of making a true story work is keeping it real, they did that. I recognized all the actors, some one needs to hire Cam'ron he was great. I don't think you can compare this with New Jack City, I liked New Jack City but it was allot softer the Paid In Full. I could feel the tension in some of the scenes, it was powerful. I might buy this one.

I wrote a review on this film years ago and had to edit it... Still one of my favorite "hood" flicks 10 years later... Based on the true story of the childhood friends: AZ, Alpo and Rich Porter... The fictional names used in the movie Ace Boogie (Wood Harris), Alpo (CamRon) and Mitch (Mekhi Phifer)... I suggest seeing the documentary Game Over or read up on the real life characters to get an idea of what this film really is about. What impressed me so much about this movie is its authenticity with regards to imagery - you look at these infamous photos of the three back in the day and they're accurately replicated in live action in the film, creating a special vivid realism. That coupled with RocAFella production, superb acting, and DJ Brucie B on the score with classics - this movie never gets old. Not to mention the soundtrack bangs... 2 discs - one dedicated to 80s hip hop heard mostly throughout the film, and the other featuring the 2002 RocaFella lineup - that includes what was my first time hearing Kanye rap on the track "Champions" - with Dame Dash boasting... classic hood sh#t.