Notorious Movie Review

So I saw the Notorious film during it's opening weekend and I thought it was good. Not because it broke any cinematic ground or even told me something that I didn't know about B.I.G. I was just happy that they didn't mess it up. The director told B.I.G.'s story well and did it in a way that did not commend his actions or demonize his enemies.

In many of today's biopics, we often experience a disconnect between the cause and effect of a Protagonist's actions because showing motive is often harder than telling motive. However, in Notorious, the audience knows exactly what drives Christopher Wallace to make the good decisions in his life as well as the bad. For example, when a teenage Christopher Wallace sells crack to a pregnant woman, you know that he does so out of the frustration of his impending fatherhood. Jamal "Gravy" Woolard does a wonderful job of showing the inner conflict created by the irony of an expectant father selling crack to an expectant mother. These conflicts are further explored in the paradox of emotions Christopher experienced and expressed via his relationships with his mother (Voletta), his wife (Faith), his mistress (Lil Kim), and his daughter.

While I was impressed with most of the acting in this film, there were some standout performances besides Jamal Woolard's. Antonique Smith did a great job as B.I.G.'s loving but independent and resilient wife, Faith. Dennis L.A. White was very good as D-Rock, the best friend in the world and the real reason why B.I.G. became a famous rapper. While Angela Bassett is generally a great actress, she did not maintain a consistent accent and I felt that there were moments of over-acting. And while the film had a good cast, the role of Lil Cease was absolutely mis-casted. Marc Jon Jeffries is a good actor but he looked like a monkey in the movie and I don't remember Lil Cease looking that young. Naturi Naughton did a great job as Lil Kim but her performance will always be overshadowed by her unnecessary nudity.

But then the character of Puff helped me understand what made the film good. I never believed that Derek Luke could play a character like Puff because you can't act like you have swagg; you either have it or you don't. However, as Luke played the ever-dancing and motivating Puff, I realized that I wasn't looking at a film with impersonators. This was a film with actors. So while I appreciated Jamal having some resemblance to B.I.G., I appreciated that he didn't impersonate him. Jamal simply acted like a big rapper from Brooklyn that experienced what B.I.G. experienced. Luke didn't impersonate the always optimistic Puff (definitely a Producer's embellishment), he simply acted like a smart, hungry, and young music Producer. This film was driven by great direction and great performances.

In sum, Notorious was a good film with some great performances. The resolve of the film shows B.I.G. making peace with the women in his life (even Kim) and expressing a desire to change the world by changing himself. Whether this self-actualization really took place is immaterial, as it's purpose in the film just feels good. Whatever Notorious may have lacked in big-budget production, it gained with strong substance, content, and characters.