THEMOVIES

The unassuming narrative of Joel Alfredo Vargas’ Bronx-set Mad Bills to Pay follows 19 year old Rico, a Dominican-American kid hawking ‘nutties’ (homemade cocktails) at the beach, chasing girls and basically enjoying the kind of carefree summer that never quite lives up to its promise. Rico soon learns that lesson the hard way when his girlfriend reveals that she’s pregnant, upending his plans and moving quickly into the pokey apartment he shares with his loving but boisterous family..