Notorious


Starring: Jamal Woolard, Derek Luke, Angela Bassett, Naturi Naughton, Anthony Mackie, Antonique Smith
Directed by: George Tillman, Jr.
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Music
2009

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Christopher Wallace (Jamal Woolard) befriends record producer Sean "Puffy" Combs (Derek Luke) and quickly becomes the Notorious B.I.G., the East Coast's hottest rapper. This eventually leads a falling out with West Coast rapper 2Pac (Anthony Mackie) and his own untimely death.

Review:

Tim: I am glad that this movie was made. I really think that the whole life story of these rappers, including the Notorious B.I.G., 2Pac, and Sean "Puffy" Combs is just a fascinating story. You have fame, fortune, love, betrayal, East Coast v. West Coast, unsolved murders, and more. This whole ordeal is very sad but incredibly interesting. I love watching and hearing about it, and am glad it played a large part in this film. Biggie Smalls is certainly one of the most gifted rappers of all time, and his life makes for a very entertaining film.

The casting was obviously crucial because all of the characters here are larger than life, and many of them still play a large role in the music industry today. For the most part, the film does a good job assigning the roles. The biggest role (physically and metaphorically) was the titular Notorious B.I.G. Jamal Woolard is not exactly a terrific actor, but he looks the part and is believable for most of the film. I certainly wish he had given a better performance or a better actor could have been found, but I understand the challenge and Woolard does a good enough job. Derek Luke was probably the best actor to play P. Diddy, althoug he doesn't really look like him. I wish they could have found an actor who look more like Combs, but Luke captures his essence, and he is a very good actor, so I am happy with the casting. Angela Bassett was a brilliant choice for Wallace's mom, and she gives a very strong performance.

The rest of the supporting cast is fairly good as well. Anthony Mackie was absolutely the right choice to place Tupac Shakur. He is believable in the role and gives a very good performance. I also liked Naturi Naughton as Lil Kim and Antonique Smith as Faith Evans. Both are quite good. This film does a very good job of getting the right people in the right roles- oftentimes not perfectly, but enough to not hurt the film.

As I mentioned, all these events that took place in the 90s are just so interesting- it is a case of real life being more dramatic, mysterious, and memorable than anything Hollywood could have created. While this film is very much helped by this real life story, it doesn't exactly come across nearly as effective as it needs to. There are a few moments of real drama, but not nearly enough. Plus, the film does a good of portraying the darker side of Biggie, but fumbles a bit at the end. I understand the need to pay respect to a murdered father, son, friend, husband, and icon, but it felt like the film was a bit heavy handed and its praise went on a little bit too much.

Notorious is one of those films that does just enough to keep you interested throughout. I admit I was entertained by this film, although I already knew how it ended. I loved seeing the behind the scenes moments in the life of Christopher Wallace, but these could have been more effective. Part of this comes from the good (but not good enough) performances of most of the cast. I felt a twinge of emotion at the film's end, but we never really get into Wallace's head, as he struggled within himself and with the external trappings of fortune and fame. These scenes needed to come alive for us more than they did. Plus, the movie suffers from many of the musical biopic cliches that you might expect to find. Still, this film is at least a decent attempt, and I didn't dislike my experience with it.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Finding Forrester, Men of Honor, Biggie & Tupac, Ray