I have been waiting on this movie for years. Ever since the rumors of a Biggie movie started coming out I was waiting in anticipation. B.I.G. is one of my favorite artists of all time and to hear that a real studio backed biopic was coming out on him was almost too good to be true. Unfortunately, when I went to go see the movie this past weekend I found out I was only half wrong.

 
While the movie did indeed come out I must say it is not what I was hoping for. The notorious B.I.G. meant so much to so many people. However this movie doesn’t really capture the emotion and realness that he put into his music. For starters my biggest complaint about the movie is that it wasn’t factual. Biggie never went to prison in North Carolina as portrayed in the movie. He also never made it off the corner and transitioned into moving weight as portrayed in the movie. 

The thing that I along with most people loved about B.I.G. was his honesty. “I know how it feels to wake up fucked up, pockets broke as hell…” That was what captured our attention and heart early on with his music. Unlike today’s rappers B.I.G. didn’t come out telling us he has always been rich. He gave us his dream and then made it happen right in front of our eyes. Unfortunately though with these fallacies in the movie it makes those of us who know Biggie’s story walk away with a bitter taste in our mouth. After all with Diddy and his own mother involved in the project, I did expect better.

 
The second problem I have with this movie is the pacing. I’m
sorry but this is just too B.I.G. of a story to tell in 2 hours. Getting into hustling, starting to rap, getting a deal, the 2Pac relationship, the Faith relationship, the Lil Kim relationship, the good times, the bad times, the horrible death, all of this is covered in 120 minutes and it just feels like enough time wasn’t put into each of these stories. This results in the audience not being that emotionally invested in the flick and not really caring about key parts in the movie.

 

The acting is okay. Gravy did hold it down as Biggie for the most part. He did look and sound just like him, even getting his Tony Soprano heavy breathing style down to a science. On the other hand though Anthony Mackie was HORRIBLE as 2Pac, overacting almost every line and scene. Also the dialogue in this movie didn’t feel quite real either. There’s a scene in which a teenage Biggie is rapping in a basement with a bunch of  ‘word-ups’ and ‘that shit is hot son!’ coming from his small crowd of hustlers and blunt smokers. These corny lines, probably written by a 33 year old white staff writer, got the biggest laughs from the audience out of the whole movie.  

 



I must say overall Notorious did not live up to my expectations. I was hoping for hip hop’s version of Ray, with all the struggle and emotion conveyed through the screen. This is not what I got though. If you’re a fan of B.I.G. you’re of course going to see the movie. Might I just suggest though that you wait for Blockbuster…