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Notorious (2009)
I have mentioned that when reviewing biopics, that I prefer the subject is someone I know little about, which is the case with 2009's Notorious, a by-the-numbers biopic centering on the life and career of Christopher Wallace aka Biggie Smalls aka Notorious BIG, which, despite being watchable, is just another biopic.
The film follows the legendary rapper from his teenage years as a drug dealer who, after doing jail time, becomes a father and decides to get off the streets and become a rapper. The film follows as he bounces back and forth between drug dealing and rapping, as well as romances with three different women with whom he made two babies, to his role in the infamous East Coast/West Coast rap feud that resulted in the death of Biggie and fellow rapper Tupac Shakur.
Full disclosure, you couldn't fill a thimble with what I know about the subject of this film. I have seem archival footage of him on the news, but I couldn't tell you the name of a single recording he made. With that said, the screenplay by Reggie Rock Blythewood, who wrote the screenplay for Spike Lee's Get on the Bus and Cheo Hodari Cocker, who wrote Southland follows the accustomed path of a thousand biopics of the past, humble past, brief flirtation with jail, romantic challenges, rise to success, and the eventual fall that always happens. Of course, since we already know how the story ends, the film definitely runs out of gas for those who know Biggie's story, but for those, like myself, who didn't, I was curious to see what led to his tragic demise at the tender age of 24.
I was intrigued by the close relationship that Biggie had with his mom in this film; ironically, it was a striking dichotomy with the way he treated the three women he has romances with in this film. After the birth of his first child, the child and the baby mama disappear for a large chunk of the film and suddenly reappear after the birth of his second child. I also found it a little jarring that the biggest influence in Biggie's life and career and the voice of reason in his life was manager/mentor San "Puffy" Combs and with everything we know about Combs, this put a cloud over the proceedings. Combs was also the executive producer of this film
.
Director George Tillman Jr, who directed a 2017 film I really liked called Mudbound provides music video type direction the story and the performances he gets from his cast serve the story, but don't take the film anywhere special. Jamal Woolard seemed an appropriate fit for the title role and I also liked Angela Bassett as Biggie's mom and Anthony Mackie as Tupac, but unless you were a huge Biggie fan, this is nothing more than passable entertainment.
I have mentioned that when reviewing biopics, that I prefer the subject is someone I know little about, which is the case with 2009's Notorious, a by-the-numbers biopic centering on the life and career of Christopher Wallace aka Biggie Smalls aka Notorious BIG, which, despite being watchable, is just another biopic.
The film follows the legendary rapper from his teenage years as a drug dealer who, after doing jail time, becomes a father and decides to get off the streets and become a rapper. The film follows as he bounces back and forth between drug dealing and rapping, as well as romances with three different women with whom he made two babies, to his role in the infamous East Coast/West Coast rap feud that resulted in the death of Biggie and fellow rapper Tupac Shakur.
Full disclosure, you couldn't fill a thimble with what I know about the subject of this film. I have seem archival footage of him on the news, but I couldn't tell you the name of a single recording he made. With that said, the screenplay by Reggie Rock Blythewood, who wrote the screenplay for Spike Lee's Get on the Bus and Cheo Hodari Cocker, who wrote Southland follows the accustomed path of a thousand biopics of the past, humble past, brief flirtation with jail, romantic challenges, rise to success, and the eventual fall that always happens. Of course, since we already know how the story ends, the film definitely runs out of gas for those who know Biggie's story, but for those, like myself, who didn't, I was curious to see what led to his tragic demise at the tender age of 24.
I was intrigued by the close relationship that Biggie had with his mom in this film; ironically, it was a striking dichotomy with the way he treated the three women he has romances with in this film. After the birth of his first child, the child and the baby mama disappear for a large chunk of the film and suddenly reappear after the birth of his second child. I also found it a little jarring that the biggest influence in Biggie's life and career and the voice of reason in his life was manager/mentor San "Puffy" Combs and with everything we know about Combs, this put a cloud over the proceedings. Combs was also the executive producer of this film
.
Director George Tillman Jr, who directed a 2017 film I really liked called Mudbound provides music video type direction the story and the performances he gets from his cast serve the story, but don't take the film anywhere special. Jamal Woolard seemed an appropriate fit for the title role and I also liked Angela Bassett as Biggie's mom and Anthony Mackie as Tupac, but unless you were a huge Biggie fan, this is nothing more than passable entertainment.