notorious: a review from someone who cares

those trailers on youtube may look promising, but don't believe the hype. "notorious," a biopic about the life and death of notorious b.i.g., feels like biggie's wikipedia page reformatted for the big screen. no era of the iconic brooklyn rapper's 24 years goes untouched, making a frustrating dash from the playground to the grave, all in less than two hours.

notorious suffers from biopic-itis, that regrettable tendency to reduce complicated lives to a greatest-hits assemblage of melodramatic highs and agonizing lows. the performances are a mixed bag. naturi naughton captures lil' kim's strange combination of brazen sexuality and unexpected vulnerability, and woolard has expressive, fluid eyes and a melancholy air that belies his mountainous physique and brash charisma. the usually unimpeachable bassett is saddled with the film's hoariest hood-movie clichés in the form of overwrought speeches about the dangers of street life. in spite of a handful of stellar performances and infectious wall-to-wall music that conveys the wit, musicality, and verbal dexterity of b.i.g.'s oeuvre, notorious feels depressingly like a vh1 tv movie.

if this all sounds sketchy and unrevealing, so’s the movie, which seems more interested in drawing a largely sympathetic and superficial portrait in a flashy style than in providing any serious insight. in the process it fails to explain, or even lay out with great precision, what’s happening at various times, and what the import of it was—simply to follow the story, it’s really necessary to study up and bring some background knowledge to the picture with you. a great rapper deserves a great biopic, but b.i.g. fans will have to settle for this merely passable one.


maybe in 70 years, when all those involved in the story are dead and the truth can finally be told, a more incisive, less glorifying film can be made of the notorious b.i.g. with notorious, despite energetic performances from woolard, naughton and mackie and a vibrant soundtrack, all we get is a factory-issue biography, making little allowance for the quirks of the actual life story it's telling.