Notorious (2009)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

George Tillman Jr.

Writers (WGA):

Reggie Rock Bythewood (written by) and
Cheo Hodari Coker (written by)

Release Date:

16 January 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | Music

Tagline:

No dream is too big

Plot:

The life and death story of Notorious B.I.G. (a.k.a. Christopher Wallace), who came straight out of Brooklyn to take the world of rap music by storm.

Plot Keywords:

Brooklyn | Death | Crack | Rap Music | Fame

US TV Schedule:

Sat. Nov. 21	10:00 PM	MAX
Sun. Nov. 22	2:05 AM	MAX
Sun. Nov. 22	10:20 AM	MAX

Cast

Jamal Woolard	...	Christopher 'Biggie' Wallace
Mohamed Dione	...	Record Executive at Party
Derek Luke	...	Sean 'Puffy' Combs
Dennis L.A. White	...	Damion 'D-Roc' Butler
Marc John Jefferies	...	Lil Cease
Menyone DeVeaux	...	Hot Girl
Ginger Kroll	...	Debbie
Ricky Smith	...	Wally
Christopher Jordan Wallace	...	Biggie (age 8-13)
Amanda Christopher	...	Keisha
Angela Bassett	...	Voletta Wallace
Nina Daniels	...	Street Commentator
Jasper Briggs	...	Damion (age 8-13)
Cyrus Farmer	...	Selwyn
David Costabile	...	Mr. Webber

Also Known As:

Untitled Notorious B.I.G. Project (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive language, some strong sexuality including dialogue, nudity, and for drug content.

Runtime:

122 min | 128 min (unrated director's cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Ireland:16 | UK:15 | Australia:MA | New Zealand:R16 | Singapore:R21 | South Korea:18 | Finland:K-15 | Philippines:R-18 (MTRCB) | Netherlands:12 | USA:R (certificate #44759)

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Fox Searchlight Pictures

Trivia:

Christopher Jordan Wallace, who plays a young Biggie, is the son of Biggie and Faith Evans.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In a brief establishing shot of Times Square, a billboard poster for "Chicken Run" can be seen. Chicken Run was released in 2000, and Biggie died in 1997. There is also a poster for "Will & Grace" on NBC, which premiered the year after his death (1998).

Quotes:

Sean Combs: We can't change the world unless we change ourselves.

Movie Connections:

References "Starsky and Hutch" (1975)

No, No, No

This film reminded me of The Sopranos, and not in a good way.

David Chase's seminal mob opera only ever put its foot wrong twice, the most jarring and inexplicable instance of which took place in its fourth season, when Junior Soprano went on trial for his life. Rather than pursue this riveting (and pivotal) plot line, the writers instead chose to completely ignore it, focusing instead on Bobby Baccalieri's constant whimpering over his recently deceased wife's frozen pasta dish.

When something of genuine interest happens in Notorious - for example that first, mysterious assassination attempt on Tupac Shakur that ignited the whole East Coast/West Coast feud in the first place, and ended up leading to the deaths of both Tupac and Christopher Wallace - the film treats it as just another bit of plot to plod through. Why exactly was Tupac so convinced that he was sold out by his own people? Did he alone nurture his subsequent affiliation with Suge Knight? And was Lil' Kim's transformation from prim office drone into sex-obsessed, vampish diva really as banal as it appears here?

None of these questions are even fleetingly addressed by the film's screenwriters, who are far more interested in depicting Wallace's turbulent love life to zero compelling dramatic avail. These sequences (including a brain-frazzlingly clichéd groupie indescretion in a hotel room) are so toothless and bruisingly manipulative that the only real comparison to be made is with a network TV movie.

The storytelling, in both structure and content, is simplistic and trite. But more fundamentally, as a biopic; as something designed to celebrate its subject and educate the uninitiated on the intricacies of their life and work; the film is almost entirely worthless. The reliance on meat-and-potatoes genre plotting, coupled with the lifeless musical performances (an area in which a film like this should soar, surely) result in a film that appears to have been designed only to satisfy the whims and demands of those involved, leaving Wallace's questionable status as a giant in his field as the preserve of the easily persuaded and previously converted only.

And the final twenty minutes, in which Wallace's posthumous cultural identity is broadly painted as being akin to that of a latter day saint, quite frankly made me feel like throwing up.

On that score, much as with any other, Notorious is crass, calculating and compromised.