A good effort but biopic avoids the B.I.G issues

George Tillman Jr's biopic of Christopher "Biggie Smalls" Wallace aka rapper The Notorious B.I.G begins on March 8, 1997, with Wallace (Jamal Woolard) and his friends partying hard, then flashes back to May 1983 to piece together his formative years.

Despite the best efforts of his single mother Voletta (Angela Bassett) to raise him well, Christopher deals drugs on the streets and gets his girlfriend Jan (Julia Pace Mitchell) pregnant.

His music career takes off and he aligns himself with rising star Sean "Puffy" Combs (Derek Luke), signing for Bad Boy Records. This in turn brings Christopher into the orbit of the volatile Lil' Kim (Naturi Naughton) and singer Faith Evans (Antonique Smith). Both women take him further away from Jan and his baby daughter.

A feud ignites with Tupac Shakur (Anthony Mackie) and his West Coast rap brethren. The war of words leads to blood on the streets until Voletta finds herself sitting at a funeral, mourning the senseless death of her boy, aged just 24.

Notorious is a reverent if not entirely affectionate portrait of a musical icon, which leaves you wondering how many skeletons the scriptwriters left hanging in the closet. Real-life rapper Woolard aka Gravy performs many of the songs in the film but he's unable to curry sympathy for Christopher, who mistreats all of the women in his life, both eyes focused on his own fulfilment. Bassett works wonders with surprisingly little screen time.

The era is recreated convincingly with occasional news archive footage, including moving scenes of the people of Brooklyn singing as the funeral procession passes.

 

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