Notorious (2009)

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.

Director:

George Tillman Jr.

Writers:

Reggie Rock Bythewood, Cheo Hodari Coker

Stars:

Jamal Woolard, Anthony Mackie, Derek Luke

9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jamal Woolard	...	Christopher 'Biggie' Wallace
Mohamed Dione	...	Record Executive at Party
Derek Luke	...	Sean 'Puffy' Combs
Dennis L.A. White	...	Damion
Marc John Jefferies	...	Cease
Menyone DeVeaux	...	Hot Girl #1
Christopher Jordan Wallace	...	Biggie (Age 8-13)
Ricky Smith	...	Wally
Amanda Christopher	...	Keisha
Angela Bassett	...	Voletta Wallace
Jasper Briggs	...	Damion (Age 8-13)
Cyrus Farmer	...	Selwyn
David Costabile	...	Mr. Webber
Julia Pace Mitchell	...	Jan
Jermaine Denny	...	Primo

Storyline

NOTORIOUS is the story of Christopher Wallace. Through raw talent and sheer determination, Wallace transforms himself from Brooklyn street hustler (once selling crack to pregnant women) to one of the greatest rappers of all time; THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G. Follow his meteoric rise to fame and his refusal to succumb to expectations - redefining our notion of "The American Dream."

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Plot Keywords:

fame | death | rap music | misunderstanding | gun | 

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Taglines:

No dream is too big

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | Music

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [France]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 January 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Notorious B.I.G.

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£1,119,587 (UK) (13 February 2009)

Gross:

$36,842,118 (USA) (27 March 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fox Searchlight Pictures, Voletta Wallace Films, Bystorm Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

122 min 128 min (unrated director's cut)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The writer Director Antwone Fisher sat across Biggie the night he died and Antwone's wife LaNette Fisher grew up 3 blocks away from Biggie's supposed killer.

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Goofs

During Christopher Wallace's first rap battle (in the late 1980s), a poster of the movie Juice, released in 1992, can quickly be seen in the background.

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Quotes

Ending Title Card: Christopher Wallace, a.k.a. The Notorious B.I.G., did not live to see the release of his second album. That album, "Life After Death," went on to sell 10 million copies worldwide. With his success, he proved that no dream is too big. The sky is the limit.

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Connections

References Ri¢hie Ri¢h (1982)

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Soundtracks

Suicidal Thoughts
Written by The Notorious B.I.G. (as Christopher Wallace) and Lord Finesse
Performed by The Notorious B.I.G.
Courtesy of Bad Boy Records LLC
By arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing

User Reviews

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.