Notorious (2009 film)

Not to be confused with Notorious (1946 film).

Notorious
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	George Tillman, Jr.
Produced by	Wayne Barrow Edward Bates Sean Combs Trish Hofmann George Paaswell Mark Pitts Robert Teitel Voletta Wallace
Written by	Reggie Rock Bythewood Cheo Hodari Coker
Narrated by	Jamal Woolard
Starring	Jamal Woolard Angela Bassett Derek Luke Anthony Mackie Naturi Naughton Antonique Smith Marc John Jefferies Julia Pace Mitchell Christopher "CJ" Wallace, Jr.
Music by	Danny Elfman
Cinematography	Michael Grady
Editing by	Dirk Westervelt
Distributed by	Fox Searchlight Pictures
Release date(s)	United States January 16, 2009 United Kingdom February 13, 2009 Australia March 12, 2009 New Zealand March 19, 2009
Running time	Theatrical cut: 123 minutes Unrated Director's cut: 129 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$20,000,000
Box office	$43,051,547[1]

Notorious is a 2009 American biographical film about the life of iconic hip hop star The Notorious B.I.G. who is played by Jamal Woolard. The film co-stars Angela Bassett as his mother Voletta Wallace, Derek Luke as Sean Combs, and Anthony Mackie as Tupac Shakur. Other roles include Naturi Naughton as Lil' Kim and Antonique Smith as Faith Evans.

The film was released in American theaters on January 16, 2009, by Fox Searchlight Pictures. The Film's MPAA rating is R for pervasive language, some strong sexuality including dialogue, nudity, and for drug content.

Plot

The film opens at a party in Los Angeles in March 1997. Biggie Smalls (Jamal Woolard) is seen sitting at his chair smoking. People, including Faith Evans (Antonique Smith) and Sean "Puffy" Combs (Derek Luke), move to the music on the dance floor. Moments later, Biggie, Puffy, and friends are driving away from the party. They stop at a red light, while Lil' Cease, (Marc John Jefferies) is flirting with women outside. A black Chevrolet Impala pulls up and someone inside fires a single shot at Biggie.

The film then flashes back to Biggie's childhood in 1983, recounting his tough upbringing in Brooklyn. Christopher (Christopher "CJ" Wallace, Jr.) writes several rap songs, enduring the ridicule of some classmates. Christopher then starts selling drugs at the height of the crack epidemic. In 1990, Biggie finds out from his girlfriend Jan, that she's pregnant. Biggie, distraught, starts selling drugs more, along with his friend D-Rock. The hood, start hearing about Big's rapping skills and Big ends up winning an important rap battle. After the battle, Biggie meets Kim Jones (Naturi Naughton) for the first time. Kim is attracted to Biggie instantly and they later have sex in her apartment. However, Kim is afraid to start a new relationship because of a past relationship when she was abused. Biggie assures her that he won't break her heart and they begin dating (even though he is dating Jan also.) Prior to this, Biggie's mother, Voletta (Angela Bassett), throws him out of the house after discovering his involvement with drugs and his getting-ready to be a father.

Biggie then lives in a crack-house and has 4 other young drug dealers, working for him. Biggie ends up with a whole lot of cash, Soon, Big is caught with weapons & possession of cocaine and is sentenced to 2 years and bail is $250,000. Biggie serves 9 months in prison before making bail. After serving time in prison, Biggie comes home to see his mother, and official girlfriend Jan (Julia Pace Mitchell), and their new daughter, T'yanna (Taylor Dior). After reconciling with his mother, he goes to find D-Roc and Lil' Cease and records a demo called "Microphone Murderer". Shortly thereafter, Biggie meets Sean Combs, an ambitious producer for Uptown Records. Puffy promises Biggie that he will sign him to a record deal. Puffy, however, will only accept Biggie if he gives up drug dealing. Biggie agrees and then leaves. Biggie learns that Puffy has lost his job at Uptown Records. Frustrated and upset, Biggie nearly ruins his chances, when Biggie, along with his friend, D-Roc (played by Dennis L.A. White), has a run-in with the police which results in Biggie throwing his illegal gun into the bushes. They are caught by the police after a chase. The officer gives the two a minute to decide who will take the fall. Biggie, has proofs and he would be looking at 5-6 years in prison. If D-Roc, who has a clean record, plea guilty for the charge, he'll get 3 years and a day in prison. So D-Roc eventually decides to "take the fall" for the both of them because he believes that Biggie can succeed as a rapper.

When Biggie and Mark Pitts talk to Voletta about Big's rap career, Voletta talks to Biggie in private. Biggie discovers that his mother has breast cancer. Biggie becomes depressed, but soon recovers when Puffy begins his own record label, Bad Boy Records, and signs him. Biggie starts recording songs for his first album, Ready to Die, thereafter. He records his first single, "Machine Gun Funk"; Puffy suggests there's another song that Biggie can record. The track is called "Juicy".

Biggie meets Faith Evans at a photo shoot. They begin a whirlwind courtship, marrying soon after. Meanwhile, Biggie continues to ignore his relationship with Jan and their child. When Faith suspects Biggie is cheating on her, she goes to confront him at his hotel room, seeing him with yet another woman. The two later reconcile despite the fact that tensions between him, Faith, Jan, and Lil' Kim, yet another of Biggie's paramours, continue to grow.

Biggie begins a friendship with rapper/actor Tupac Shakur (Anthony Mackie). Biggie celebrates his album Ready To Die with Tupac, admiring the other rapper. When Tupac is shot in Quad Studios, however, he blames Puffy, Biggie and Bad Boy Records for instigating it. 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. The friendship between Biggie and Tupac is ruined. At the Soul Train Award in LA in 1996, Biggie get a death threat call from an unknown black man. At the afterparty, Tupac and Suge verbally assaults Biggie, but leaves when Biggie's security pulls out a pistol. A track called "Who Shot Ya?" is released, a song which claims to diss Tupac. Biggie and Puffy claim that "Who Shot Ya?" was recorded before Tupac was shot, but Suge and Tupac claim otherwise. Tupac comes out with "Hit 'Em Up" which disses Biggie along with talking about having sex with Faith. Then after seeing a magazine photo of Tupac and Faith hugging each other, Biggie becomes enraged. He interrupts an interview that is being conducted with Faith, running after Faith. Faith hides from Biggie and Biggie is forced to leave by one of his managers, Mark Pitts (Kevin Phillips). Later, Faith explains that she and Tupac met at the House of Blues and simply took a picture. Biggie tries to renew the relationship, but tensions continue to grow between them.

The East Coast–West Coast hip-hop rivalry continues, with Biggie, Puffy & Bad Boy Records doing a tour in L.A. While Big performs the song, "Gimme The Loot," the fans are booing Biggie, and throwing up West Coast Signs, representing Tupac. Biggie, who had enough, fires back with, "Who Shot Ya," which gets the crowd wild up, which Puffy did not want Big to sing that song. The beef continues until September 1996 when Tupac is murdered in Las Vegas. Sometime afterwards, Biggie calls his mother, Voletta. Voletta states that Tupac was probably killed as a result of their quarrels. Not only is Biggie shaken by Tupac's untimely death, he continues to have relationship problems with Faith, Jan and Lil' Kim. Biggie attempts to resolve these issues by meeting with Jan and their daughter more often.

Biggie and D-Roc renew their friendship after D-Roc is released from prison. Biggie states that he's done with the rap game, a small emphasis upon the apparent change of heart that he had while in the hospital (he was injured in a car accident). Biggie decides to go to Los Angeles to promote his upcoming album Life After Death and brings D-Roc and Lil' Cease with him. The three men, along with Puffy and Faith, all travel to Los Angeles. Biggie gets several death threats. After calling Lil' Kim to apologize and to set up a meeting with her, the film returns to the beginning scene, where Biggie is shot. A few days later Voletta, Puffy, Lil' Cease, D-Roc, Lil' Kim, Faith and others all grieve over the death of Biggie at the funeral. Later, Biggie's hearse is driven down the city's street while hundreds of fans are lined up. Someone in the crowd turns on their radio and they play his song "Hypnotize" and the crowd begins dancing and jumping around to it.

Production

Development

Antoine Fuqua was originally set to direct^[2] before director George Tillman, Jr. signed on to helm the project.^[3] The film was distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures.^[4] Producers on Notorious include Sean Combs, Voletta Wallace and Biggie's former managers Wayne Barrow and Mark Pitts.^[3]

Casting

In early October 2007 open casting calls for the role of The Notorious B.I.G. began.^[5] Actors, rappers and unknowns all tried out. Rapper Beanie Sigel auditioned^[6] for the role but was not picked.^[7] Eventually it was announced that rapper Jamal "Gravy" Woolard was cast as Biggie.^[8] Other cast members include Angela Bassett as Voletta Wallace, Derek Luke as Sean Combs, Antonique Smith as Faith Evans, Naturi Naughton formerly of 3LW as Lil' Kim and Anthony Mackie as Tupac Shakur.^[9]

Cast

• Jamal Woolard as Christopher Wallace / Biggie Smalls / The Notorious B.I.G.
• Angela Bassett as Voletta Wallace
• Christopher Wallace, Jr. as a young Christopher Wallace
• Derek Luke as Sean Combs
• Marc John Jefferies as Lil' Cease
• Anthony Mackie as Tupac Shakur
• Naturi Naughton as Lil' Kim
• Antonique Smith as Faith Evans
• Kevin Phillips as Mark Pitts
• Julia Pace Mitchell as Jan
• Dennis L.A. White as Damion 'D-Roc' Butler

Reception

Critical reaction

The film received mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes noted that 50% of film reviewers gave the film a positive review based on a sample of 131 reviews, with an average score of 5.5/10 indicating "Rotten" reviews. Rotten Tomatoes' consensus is that Notorious is "a biopic that lacks the luster of its subject" and a "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."^[10] The "Top Critics" currently rate the film at 61% based on a sample of 33 reviews as of January 15, 2009.^[11] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received a 61 based on a sample of 31 critics, indicating "Generally favorable reviews."^[12] Roger Ebert gave the film 3 1/2 Stars (out of four), applauding the film focusing on Christopher Wallace and not his rapping persona.

Box office

The film was released on January 16, 2009 and grossed $24,000,000 on its opening weekend in 1,638 theaters in the United States on Martin Luther King weekend.^[1] As of April 2, 2009, the film has grossed $36,843,682 in the United States alone and $6,207,865 internationally to bring the overall total to over $43,051,547.^[13]

Criticism by Lil' Kim

Lil' Kim was not happy about how she was portrayed in the film, saying "Regardless of the many lies in the movie and false portrayal of me to help carry a story line through, I will still continue to carry his legacy through my hard work and music." She felt the producers were more interested in the "character" than the actual her. Lil' Kim scenes contained a lot of nudity and sexuality. ^[14] The film's producers downplayed her comments.^[15]

Comparison to actual events

In the scene where Biggie and Puffy meet for the first time, Biggie gives his age as 19. That is correct, as the two men met in early 1992. But during that meeting, Puffy talks about the West Coast's dominance of hip-hop, saying, "They got Snoop, they got Dre, they got Cube, they killin' it. The East Coast is just lookin' for someone to fill that void." At the time, Dr. Dre was known mainly as a member of N.W.A. and would not release his first solo album, The Chronic, until December of that year. Also, Snoop Dogg was not widely known until his appearance on The Chronic, although he did appear with Dre on the Deep Cover soundtrack in 1992. At the time of Biggie and Puffy's first meeting, no one would have cited Dre and Snoop as major players in West Coast hip-hop.

Also, another scene involving Biggie being kicked out of class, and meeting his girlfriend in a restaurant, where his girlfriend, Jan, says she's pregnant with Biggie's daughter in 1990, and born by the time Biggie is released from jail. In real life, Biggie's daughter, T'yanna, was born in 1993, nine months after her father was locked up.

DVD sales

Notorious was released on DVD on April 21, 2009. About 858,000 DVD units have been sold, bringing in $19.5 million in revenue, bringing the films total gross to $60 million.^[16]

Soundtrack

Main article: Notorious (soundtrack)

See also

film portal

• List of American films of 2009

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Notorious (2009)". Box Office Mojo. 209-02-01. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=notorious08.htm. Retrieved 2009-02-01. 
2. ^ Kym Balthazar (February 26, 2007) 360 We Gon' Make It XXL. Accessed November 28, 2007.
3. ^ ^{a b} Director Selected for Biggie Biopic, Diddy to Executive Produce XXL (August 13, 2007). Accessed November 28, 2007.
4. ^ http://content.foxsearchlight.com/inside/node/2549 at Fox Searchlight Pictures. Retrieved on 2009-01-16.
5. ^ Melena Ryzik (October 8, 2007) Dreaming Big About Acting Big NY Times. Accessed November 28, 2007.
6. ^ Beanie Sigel Auditions for Role of Biggie Smalls in New Biopic XXL (October 3, 2007). Accessed November 28, 2007.
7. ^ Sean Kingston: Big, But Not B.I.G. Vibe (August 30, 2007). Accessed November 28, 2007.
8. ^ Brooklyn Rapper Gravy to Play Biggie in Upcoming Biopic XXL (March 6, 2008). Accessed March 6, 2008.
9. ^ Gravy for Biggie Joblo.com (March 6, 2008). Accessed March 6, 2008.
10. ^ Notorious Movie Reviews, Pictures. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2010-12-25.
11. ^ Notorious Reviews: Top Critics. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2009-01-14.
12. ^ Notorious Reviews, Ratings, Credits. Metacritic. Retrieved 2009-01-15.
13. ^ http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=notorious08.htm
14. ^ TV Guide
15. ^ AP Press Statement Video
16. ^ http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2009/NOBIG-DVD.php

External links

• Official website
• Notorious at the Internet Movie Database
• Notorious at AllRovi
• Notorious at Rotten Tomatoes
• Notorious (2009 film) at Metacritic
• Notorious at Box Office Mojo