Movie Review: Notorious (2009)

Not bad, not bad at all

My expectations for the Chris Wallace, a.k.a. Notorious B.I.G., biopic were mixed at best. The January release date along with a smattering of clips released online led me to believe it would be a poorly acted story relying purely on Biggie's music. Fortunately, I was dead wrong as Notorious, while it does rely on some of B.I.G.'s biggest hits, is quite entertaining once it gets beyond a very bumpy start.

The film opens with the shooting that killed Wallace in March of 1997 and quickly bounces back to his childhood on the streets of Brooklyn. During this time Jamal Woolard, playing Wallace at a later stage in his live, supplies the voice over that does nothing more than reiterate what you see on the screen. It is a maddening 20 minutes or so as the film doesn't really get started until Wallace meets Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs played by Derek Luke. From that point on I can't imagine any honest B.I.G. fan not enjoying themselves.

I have no idea how accurate the whole thing is, but the mixture of Combs's dedication to making Wallace a star and Wallace's talent as a rapper/writer tell an intriguing story of friendship, relationships, rivalries and loss laced with some great beats. The story behind the origin of the killer song "Juicy" was definitely the highlight of the whole film for me.

Notorious remains relatively neutral in many of the more scandalous aspects of Biggie's life including his affair with Lil Kim while married to Faith Evans, the November 1994 shooting that began the East Coast vs. West Coast rivalry, Biggie's relationship with Tupac and Tupac's murder. The film points no fingers and follows no particular path, and it's a good decision that keeps the story moving at a satisfying clip.

The entire cast is decent in their respective roles with Woolard turning in a satisfying portrayal of the deceased rapper. Luke does his best with Puffy, a role not many could fill with much confidence, but he definitely gives it his all. Antonique Smith and Naturi Naughton had some heavy lifting to do playing the two main love interests in Biggie's life, Faith Evans and Lil Kim respectively, and each turn in two of the better performances of the film with Naughton having to dig deep to portray the sexpot rapper/mistress.

One thing to be said about the performances is that I wish they had gone with unknowns for all the roles as Luke, Angela Bassett as Voletta Wallace and even Anthony Mackie as Tupac all do well in terms of their performances, but the fact they are playing such recognizable characters mildly takes away from the allure of the whole thing. Especially considering the lead is a played by a fresh face. This is a minor quibble and it's not that this hurts the film, but it was a mild distraction, enough to where it is noticeable.

I could like this movie more than it actually deserves simply because I love Biggie's music. If that's the case then you have been made aware and if you feel the same I expect you will have just as good a time with the final 75% of this film as I did. Just remember, as the opening quarter of this film plays along don't get too impatient with the tedious and seemingly meaningless nature of it all. This is a film that gets better and better as it goes along and while it may not be a masterpiece, that doesn't stop it from being entertaining.