We all know the drill. It is the sacred duty of the music biopic to present an against-all-odds struggle while revisiting the title artist’s greatest hits. Notorious, a hagiographical portrait detailing the brief madcap life of Christopher Wallace aka Biggie Smalls aka The Notorious B.I.G. carefully sticks to the plan, using the same template set by Ray and Walk The Line. As such, Notorious is not nearly as radical or dazzling as the eminently talented man it seeks to depict but it is, at least, closer to 8 Mile than Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ in the rap movie pantheon.
We all know the story. Biggie, essayed here by the superb Jamal Woolard aka Gravy, was a Brooklyn kid who loved his momma but fell in with a bad crowd. While doing time on a drug dealing rap, he honed his storytelling chops and landed a record deal through Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs. He married Faith Evans and bedded a bevy of shorties, including Li’l Kim, fathered two children and became a global superstar. By 24, he was dead, an apparent victim of the East Coast/West Coast rivalries of the time.
We’ve all heard the theories. It was Suge Knight in the study with a candlestick. It was the F.B.I.It was off-duty LAPD officers. Notorious wisely sidesteps these conspiracy theories. This is a good-natured Biggie primer that celebrates his life and work rather than revelling in the circumstances of his death. This is a simple story of a kid who was told in the schoolyard that he’d never amount to anything because he was “... too fat, too black and too ugly”. So what if Puff Daddy comes out of this movie looking like St. Francis of Assisi. We’re all for printing the legend.