Notorious was released in the United States on January 16, 2009, by Fox Searchlight Pictures. The film received mixed reviews from critics, with praise mainly aimed at Woolard's performance and grossed $44.4 million on a $20 million budget.
Plot
In 1997, Biggie Smalls is shot and killed by a drive-by assailant.
In the 1980s in Brooklyn, young Biggie sells crack with his friends D-Roc and Lil Cease. His girlfriend Jan is pregnant, so he needs to make more money. Biggie wins a rap battle but his mother, Voletta Wallace, throws him out of the house for dealing drugs.
Biggie gets caught in possession of weapons and cocaine, and serves nine months in prison. Biggie meets Kim Jones and they have sex, but Kim refuses to pursue a relationship. After reconciling with his mother, Biggie records a demo called "Microphone Murderer" which catches the attention of Puffy, an ambitious producer for Uptown Records. Puffy promises Biggie a record deal but Biggie finds out that Puffy is no longer employed by Uptown Records. Biggie and his friend D-Roc are caught again with drugs; D-Roc takes the fall for the both of them to allow Biggie to pursue a rap career.
Biggie becomes depressed when he finds out Voletta has breast cancer, but cheers up when Puffy signs him to Bad Boy Records. Biggie records his first album, Ready to Die. He meets and marries singer [[Faith Evans]. However, Faith catches Biggie cheating on her. Tensions between him, Faith, Jan, and Lil' Kim continue to grow.
Biggie begins a friendship with rapper/actor Tupac Shakur. Biggie celebrates his album Ready To Die with Tupac. When Tupac is shot in Quad Studios, however, he blames Puffy, Biggie, and Bad Boy Records for setting him up. At The Source Awards in 1995, Death Row Records executive, Suge Knight, makes a speech "dissing" Puffy and Bad Boy Records, claiming Death Row is the better label. Soon the disagreement escalates into the East Coast–West Coast hip-hop rivalry, and attacks are made on both sides. At the 1996 Soul Train Awards in Los Angeles, Biggie receives a death threat by phone. At the afterparty, Tupac and Suge verbally assault Biggie, but leave when Biggie's security threatens them with a pistol. A track called "Who Shot Ya?" is later released, which is interpreted as a diss directed at Tupac. Biggie and Puffy claim that "Who Shot Ya?" was recorded before Tupac was shot, but Tupac responds with "Hit 'Em Up" which disses Biggie and claims a sexual relationship with Faith Evans. After seeing a magazine photo of Tupac and Faith hugging each other, Biggie confronts Faith but she insists nothing happened.
The two attempt to reconcile after she tells him she's pregnant with his child, but the hip-hop rivalry continues to escalate. Biggie goes on tour in L.A. but the crowd boos him, throwing up West Coast signs to show they are siding with Tupac. Annoyed, Biggie performs "Who Shot Ya?", which enrages the crowd even more. The rivalry between the two rappers continues until September 1996, when Tupac is murdered in Las Vegas. Voletta tells Biggie that Tupac was probably killed as a result of their rivalry, which shakes him up. Biggie attempts to ease the tensions in his life by visiting Jan and their daughter more often.
Biggie and D-Roc renew their friendship after D-Roc is released from prison and Biggie confides that he wants out of the rap game. However, Biggie travels to Los Angeles to promote his upcoming album Life After Death, bringing D-Roc and Lil' Cease with him along with Puffy and Faith. There, he receives several death threats. He calls Lil' Kim to apologize, but Biggie is shot and killed in his car. His funeral is held a few days later and his friends and colleagues grieve at their loss. Hundreds of fans are lined up to pay their respects. The crowd dances to his hit song "Hypnotize".
In early October 2007, open casting calls for the role of The Notorious B.I.G. began.[8] Actors, rappers and members of the public all participated. Rapper Beanie Sigel auditioned[9] for the role but was not picked.[10]Nissim Black (then known as D. Black) was also under consideration.[11] Eventually it was announced that Jamal Woolard was cast as Biggie (he would also play Biggie in the Tupac biopic All Eyez on Me).[12]
A soundtrack album was released to accompany the film, although only eight of its tracks feature in the movie. The following tracks which Christopher Wallace Jr. had input on feature in the movie:
Notorious opened on January 16, 2009, in 1,638 venues. The film earned $20,497,596 in its first weekend, ranking fourth in the domestic box office behind newcomer Paul Blart: Mall Cop, holdover Gran Torino, and other newcomer My Bloody Valentine 3D.[14] The film closed on April 2, having grossed $36,843,682 in the domestic box office (US/Canada) and $7,528,069 internationally for a worldwide total of $44,371,751.[3]
Critical reaction
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 52% based on 145 reviews, with an average rating of 5.57/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A biopic that lacks the luster of its subject, Notorious is generic rise-and-fall fare that still functions as a primer for those less familiar with the work and life of the hip hop icon."[15] At Metacritic the film has a score of 60 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[16]
Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half out of four stars, applauding the film focusing on Christopher Wallace and not his rapping persona.[17]
Criticism by Lil' Kim
Lil' Kim was unhappy about the promiscuous manner in which she's portrayed in the film, saying, "Regardless of the many lies in the movie and false portrayal of me to help carry a storyline through, I will still continue to carry his legacy through my hard work and music." She felt the producers were more interested in her "character" than her. Lil' Kim's scenes in the film contained a significant amount of nudity and sexuality.[18] The film's producers, including Voletta Wallace, downplayed her comments.[19] Purportedly, producers attempted to get Lil' Kim's input during production but she never returned calls.[citation needed] Producers went with stories from Wallace's friends of how she and Wallace met.
Home media
Notorious was released on Blu-Ray and DVD on April 21, 2009. In the first three weeks, about 858,000 DVD units had been sold, bringing in $19.5 million in revenue.[20][21]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
