NOTORIOUS
RYAN: “Notorious” is the new biopic about The Notorious B.I.G. aka Biggie Smalls aka Christopher Wallace, who I now know more about than I ever thought I would.
CAROLINE: I already knew a bit about him having worked on a TV show about Lil’ Kim years ago. As a result, I think I was more interested in this movie than you were, since I was curious to see how they’d handle his life story in a movie. It seemed pretty accurate to me. Both Biggie’s mom, Voletta, and Puffy, who worked closely with Biggie, are the film’s producers, among others.
RYAN: The basic gist is that Biggie was from Brooklyn, representing the East Coast, and he was signed by Puffy’s label. There were issues between them and Suge Knight, who represented the West Coast, and it all went south when Tupac was killed.
CAROLINE: I didn’t realize how close Tupac and Biggie were before Tupac died. Of course, the movie culminates with Biggie’s shooting, which was believed to be retaliation. Meanwhile, it’s still unsolved more than ten years later.
RYAN: This movie is too long. There was a good half an hour that was mostly about Tupac’s demise that I coud have done without. I was like, “Hello, is this movie about Biggie or Tupac?”
CAROLINE: I definitely thought it dragged too, but it’s tough to make a movie like this. Biggie didn’t live long but he had a very full career, and they tried to cram in as many details as possible. Still, they only barely touched on some major parts of his life, like the formation of the Junior M.A.F.I.A., his relationship with Lil’ Kim and how he cultivated her as an artist, as well as Kim’s rivalry with Faith Evans, Biggie’s wife.
RYAN: It’s very well cast. The girls who play Lil’ Kim and Faith are pretty good, and they do their own singing and rapping.
CAROLINE: Jamal Woolard plays Biggie, and I thought he was a good likeness. He’s not the best actor, but he definitely looked the part.
RYAN: Yeah, his acting left something to be desired. Basically, he’s just really big and fat. Angela Bassett plays his mom, and she’s brilliant as usual. She’s kind of beginning to just be Angela Bassett in every movie she does though.
CAROLINE: Her accent was horrendous. If you’ve ever heard Voletta Wallace talk, she has a full on Jamaican accent, but Angela B. could barely be bothered to do it. The music is great, of course, but this movie is definitely for a niche audience.
RYAN: For sure. I’m not a huge hip-hop fan, though I do enjoy some of it. You’ll hear all his big hits in this movie, and we were bopping our heads. The guy behind us was practically asleep though.
CAROLINE: That doesn’t count; he was old, deluded and talking to himself.
— BOTTOM LINE —
RYAN: There’s definitely some very adult content in this movie between the violence and the sex and language. It’s like a cross between an ABC After-School Special and a late night Skinemax movie. I don’t recommend it unless you’re a huge fan of Biggie.
CAROLINE: I enjoyed it. It’s not a must-see by any means, but if you like Biggie, you won’t want to miss it. I think that people who don’t know that much about him might be surprised at how aggressive and violent he was. I was glad they put all that stuff in the movie and didn’t sugarcoat it.
— RATING —
