Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo)

Play trailer

1:53

Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo)

Now Playing

1h 41m

Drama

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

89%

Tomatometer

19 Reviews

Popcornmeter

0 Ratings

In a tight-knit Dominican American community in The Bronx, Rico (Juan Collado) is hustling his way through the summer, selling bootleg "nutcracker" cocktails out of a beach cooler and chasing girls without a care in the world. But when his teenage girlfriend, Destiny (Destiny Checo), begins crashing at his place with his family, turning their small apartment into a stage for their messy, complicated young love, it's only a matter of time before they’re hit with the sobering reality of growing up too fast in a city that waits for no one. Writer-director Joel Alfonso Vargas turns his hometown into the heartbeat of his debut feature, teaming up with discovery talent Collado and Checo, to deliver a raw and deeply authentic look at life in The Bronx. With humor and grit, Vargas paints a tender portrait of the chaos and charm of urban life, and the ups and downs of youthful abandon when things take an unexpected turn.

Natalia Winkelman

New York Times

2d

Alfonso Vargas’s style is entrancing enough to keep us confidently in Rico’s corner.

Go to Full Review

Maxwell Rabb

Slant Magazine

6d

3/4

Across the film, Joel Alfonso Vargas delivers an intimately observed portrait of Rico and the Bronx’s Dominican community, folding warmth into the very real pressures that define daily life.

Go to Full Review

Christian Zilko

IndieWire

02/03/2025

A-

Mad Bills to Pay rests on the performances of Collado and Checo, both first-time actors who carry the understated film on their shoulders. Rico is charismatic to the point where watching him do just about anything would be entertaining.

Go to Full Review

Mark Dujsik

Mark Reviews Movies

2d

3/4

The story here may be simple ... but these characters aren't.

Go to Full Review

Edward Douglas

The Weekend Warrior (Substack)

2d

8/10

A fantastic, mature feature debut from Vargas that’s on par with the early films of Sean Baker.

Go to Full Review

Roberto Tyler Ortiz

Geek Vibes Nation

4d

8/10

For a first feature, Mad Bills to Pay is really promising. There are pacing issues, and Rico can be a difficult character to stay with for the entire runtime, but the film feels honest in a way that’s hard to fake.

Go to Full Review

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

POST RATING

Joel Alfonso Vargas

Director

Juan Collado

Rico

Destiny Checo

Destiny

Yohanna Florentino

Mami

Nathaly Navarro

Sally

Gregory Requena

Police Officer 1

Little Women

95%

92%

Little Women

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Little Women

Oceans Are The Real Continents

100%

%

Oceans Are The Real Continents

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Oceans Are The Real Continents

Scuba

%

%

Scuba

Watchlist

Treading Water

%

%

Treading Water

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Treading Water

Nothing But a Man

98%

88%

Nothing But a Man

Watchlist

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo): Trailer 1

1:53

View more videos

View more photos

Synopsis

In a tight-knit Dominican American community in The Bronx, Rico (Juan Collado) is hustling his way through the summer, selling bootleg "nutcracker" cocktails out of a beach cooler and chasing girls without a care in the world. But when his teenage girlfriend, Destiny (Destiny Checo), begins crashing at his place with his family, turning their small apartment into a stage for their messy, complicated young love, it's only a matter of time before they’re hit with the sobering reality of growing up too fast in a city that waits for no one. Writer-director Joel Alfonso Vargas turns his hometown into the heartbeat of his debut feature, teaming up with discovery talent Collado and Checo, to deliver a raw and deeply authentic look at life in The Bronx. With humor and grit, Vargas paints a tender portrait of the chaos and charm of urban life, and the ups and downs of youthful abandon when things take an unexpected turn.

Director: Joel Alfonso Vargas
Producer: Paolo Maria Pedullà
Screenwriter: Joel Alfonso Vargas
Distributor: Oscilloscope Laboratories
Production Co: Perpetuum Films, Killer Films, Watermark Media, Spark Features
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 17, 2026, Limited
Runtime: 1h 41m

Most Popular at Home Now