So
we start at the start, with the young Clarence Wallace (AKA Biggie
Smalls, AKA Notorious B.I.G) growing up on the street of 1980s Brooklyn
under the watchful eye of his sainted mother (who is a producer of this
film).
But the lure of hip-hop and easy money is too
much for Biggie, who ditches school, starts dealing drugs, and starts
being played by Jamal Woolard - which is important because it is his
performance as Biggie that makes this film more than your average
biopic.
Whether you are a huge Biggie fan or you know nothing about him, Woolard's performance is nothing less than totally convincing.
He
wrenches the film towards some semblance of reality even when the
dialogue is nothing more than famous people introducing themselves to
each other by their full names and saying "We are going to change the
world!".
The decision to not skip over Biggie's sordid
past isn't quite as confronting as it first seems: while we might see
Biggie cold-bloodedly selling crack to a pregnant woman, that same
woman turns up later as a happy, healthy mother of a smiling child.
So, hey, clearly it was the right thing to do at the time...
But
while the actors playing Puff Daddy and 2Pac are completely
forgettable, Naturi Naughton as L'il Kim is even more compellingly
skanky than she needs to be.
In fact, if someone wants to make a Sid & Nancy style film about Notorious and L'il Kim using Woolard and Naughton - you would have an Oscar winner right there.
Instead,
we are left with this mildly frustrating effort that never really gets
in under the surface facts of Biggie's life, a film that is merely good
when - going by some of the cast - it could have been great. DVD Special Features
Notorious was a big hit at the cinemas - not by Oceans 11
standards - but it certainly make a nice little profit over what was
spent to actually make the flick. So it's great to see that cash
injected back into the DVD with a wonderful bundle of DVD Extras.
The
DVD release includes a Behind the Scenes: Making Of, a bunch of
featurettes including "I Got A Story To Tell: The Lyrics of Biggie
Smalls", "Notorious Thugs: Casting The Film", "Biggie Boot Camp",
"Anatomy of a B.I.G Performance" and the overwhelmingly cool "Party and
Bulls**t".
Conclusion:
Movie 75% Extras: 75%
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