Notorious

What’s the Story?

Long before he found fame as a rapper, Christopher Wallace -- aka Biggie Smalls/Notorious B.I.G. (Jamal Woolard) -- was a Brooklyn boy with a talent for rhythm and rhyme, scribbling poetic lyrics furiously on the steps of his building. Despite his mother Voletta's (Angela Bassett) watchful eye and protective embrace, the call of the streets proves too loud, and soon he's trading crack at the corner. Later, he ends up doing time for his crimes, but music is a bigger lure, and Biggie knows it's his path to salvation and survival. But there are plenty of detours and obstacles ahead of him.

Is It Any Good?

Rapper, son, father, lover, and poet, Biggie was a complicated man. NOTORIOUS does its best to render him fully, and it almost succeeds. There are lots of fascinating details (for instance, that young Christopher changed clothes on the roof of his building so that Voletta wouldn't wonder where he was getting the money to buy expensive name brands) and tons of drama (the implosion of Biggie's friendship with Tupac; the love triangle with Lil' Kim and Faith Evans).

Credit is due to the casting director who wisely picked Woolard, a rapper-actor who steps into Biggie's shoes and wears them more than comfortably. His Biggie is finely tuned, and he commands the mic in nearly the same way the rapper once did. The rest of the cast -- Derek Luke as Puffy, Anthony Mackie as Tupac -- also excels. Still, with so much ground to cover, Notorious glosses over moments -- how Biggie put his groundbreaking rhymes together and decided what stayed and went, for one -- on which it should linger. And with so much time spent on his troubles, the reconciliations and triumphs -- his impact on the music scene, for instance -- feel rushed. Nonetheless, Notorious rightly lets Biggie's music take center stage. Every time it comes on, we're reminded of Biggie's notoriety, charm, and genius.