Notorious: Critic Reviews

Notorious is a luridly unapologetic trip through the violence, hunger, verbal bravado, and money fever of the hip-hop world, which it views as both liberating and destructive (often for the same reasons).

Anyone looking for a dispassionate, evenhanded account of the life of Biggie Smalls will be disappointed, perhaps even dismayed, by Notorious.

Now in blows the myth of the myth: a brashly entertaining biopic.

Notorious is like a piece of well-crafted bling. It looks good, and facets of it shine, but behind the gilded facade there's not much there.

Feels like Biggie's Wikipedia page reformatted for the big screen.

An enjoyably ridiculous entertainment about a pursy young man with mysterious sex appeal who turns the rap world on its ear.

Just buy the records; that's the point of this infomercial anyhow.

It's unlikely there will be a better dramatization of the Biggie Smalls story than this one.

A vivid biopic of the larger-than-life rap star that doesn't require you be a big fan of the genre.

Notorious, directed by George Tillman Jr. with a sentimental touch, seems torn.

Even if we miss the thinking that went into the creation of Wallace's B.I.G.-ger-than-life alter ego, the movie's performances are exultant.

The movie leaves us with the sense that, twelve years after Biggie Smalls's death, a lot of people are trying to extract whatever profit or pride they can from the chaotic life of a young man who was, as he well knew, a work in progress.

Notorious is a good film in many ways, but its best achievement is the casting of Jamal Woolard, a rapper named Gravy, in the title role.

This engrossing biopic, throbbing with style and attitude, will likely add to his legend.

Notorious is an efficient biopic, and a celebratory exercise in nostalgia for hip-hop fans of a certain age.

It's as if the filmmakers didn't trust Woolard to carry the emotional weight of Wallace's story. They should have.

Notorious is a game of dress-up, the Greatest Hits version of Biggie's life. But in the end, it fails to present a convincing argument of why we should care.

If there's a guide book on how to create a standard rags-to-riches music biopic, the makers of Notorious must have memorized every page.

A rock-solid biopic with a foolproof rise-and-fall storyline and a warmly nuanced performance by Jamal Woolard as iconic rapper Christopher Wallace.

Closer to Scorsese than Scarface, Notorious gives a heartfelt yet clear-eyed sendoff to the late Brooklyn rapper Christopher Wallace, aka Biggie Smalls aka the Notorious B.I.G.

George Tillman Jr.'s film may follow the well-worn path of many a musical biography. But spot-on casting, a light touch around the edges and affection for its subject makes this warts-and-all look at the big man with the big hits a winner.

This tale of triumph and tragedy within hip hop's elite is intelligent, gripping and far less sensationalistic than anyone could have expected.

This flick smoothes out the roughest edges, drains off the rawness and blandly retraces the narrative arc of every musical biopic since The Jazz Singer.

Notorious is surprisingly and pleasantly unflashy, a straightforward picture that makes a distinction between classiness and bling.