“Skim off all the visual bling, and ‘Notorious’ is a rock-solid biopic with a foolproof rise-and-fall storyline and a warmly nuanced performance by Jamal Woolard as iconic rapper Christopher Wallace — aka Biggie Smalls, aka the Notorious B.I.G,” writes Variety’s John Anderson in his review about the George Tillman Jr.-directed film. “Less interested in the particulars of Smalls’ 1997 slaying than in his growth and influence as an artist, the pic has a propulsive narrative drive. Although the beat-heavy Fox Searchlight release will command a rap-centric fan base, it should also hip-hop its way across demographic lines.”
We wouldn’t give it that much praise. The film wasn’t terrible and was decently executed, but we didn’t really feel very engaged in the mostly formulaic and obvious cradle-to-grave biopic storyline. We didn’t want a reinvention of the wheel, but there was zero surprises. Though Derek Luke was fantastic as Puff (and brought some much needed laughs, which may have been unintentional) and the girls who played Lil’ Kim and Faith Evans were great, but theps like Anthony Mackie (Tupac) and Angela Bassett (Biggie’s mom) had thin material to work with. A more in-depth review later in the week.