Let me justify my extreme rating: this is not the worst movie I have ever seen but I only give it a one out of ten because of the ridiculously high rating it has on IMDb and I want movie-aficionados to not make the same mistake I did and assume it's a movie worth buying.Yes it is an accurate portrait of prison life and all that, but man, the musical score resembles that of late 80s TV-movies and soap operas. The decors (except inside the prison) to me do not feel like they're filthy south central LA streets. The vocabulary used is as stereotypical and over the top as if it's a braindead kind of video game. More "ORALE's" in here than f-bombs and "DUDES" combined the big lebowski. And this limited and insulting range of words combined with the cardboard acting result in paper-cut, one dimensional, zombie characters. If you're a 12 yo kid who likes the godfather and scarface (but steven seagal too), you'll love this. But if you're looking for a quality cinematic experience, skip it and watch a documentary about "la EMe" instead.

I've seen this movie a few times and while it does have it's moments, it also has some really fundamental flaws. Overall I consider it mediocre at best.WARNING, POSSIBLE SPOILER AHEAD...First of all I thought some of the prison scenes were a little on the far fetched side and really strained my credulity - specifically one where Pedro and company confront a rival black gang leader and his crew in the cell block for several minutes with hoots and jeers and toilet paper flying all around. I really can't believe that the prison guards wouldn't have intervened long before they did. And the idea that the Latino gang would dare to kill the Mafia crime bosses son was ridiculous.Secondly, as some other reviewers have commented, the overuse of the words "ese" and "homes". I'm not even a Latino and I found this stereotypical and contrived.The films was rather long and slow moving and could definitely benefited from editing.There were no really sympathetic characters and some of them were down-right repugnant. I didn't even particularly like Pedro's girlfriend, Yolanda. I can't empathize with someone who falls for a man who spent 18 years in the joint running a prison gang and is then surprised when he turns out to be a user and fake and not a social reformer. About the only person who seemed to have any honor at all was "El Japo" A movie needs to have someone you connect with and root for me to enjoy it.Lastly, there was no optimism at all to the ending. It seemed to say to me, "It's all hopeless and will never end". Rather depressing.Overall, a nice try, but fall short of the mark.

I am a fan of both drug and prison movies so when I was recommended this movie I had some pretty high expectations. I read a lot of reviews on here and it seemed that people felt this was an accurate portrayal of prison life. I have never been to prison but I highly doubt that many of the events that happened in the movie could occur in prison. The one specific scene that I am talking about is the near riot. The other problem I had with this movie was the overuse of Latino terms. I understand that these terms are used in real life but every other word was "essay"(sp) or "homes". This wouldn't have been such an issue if the movie at least had some action between long drawn out conversations. The action was few and far between and I found myself dozing off many times. The thing that bothered me with this movie was the lack of a score. There was little to no background music to set the tone of a scene. This left the movie with a ton of awkward silences with the actors standing just making a silly facial expression for minutes at a time. So if you are looking for an action filled drug movie I'd look elsewhere but if you are looking for a way to waste 2 hours of your day I'd recommend "American Me".

I remember when I first saw this movie. I was like 12 years old. I thought it was cool as h*ll ! I actually saw it again today. Its a very good movie. Sal Lopez does a very good job playing the Mexican crimelord in the Mexican maffia, "LaEme" I think that the film shows us all that there is hope. Even for the hopeless. In the end, Santana realises whats important in life.very good actors in the movie period. It may seem a little bit old even for a 90:es flick. Great movie. 8/10