Notorious

52%

Tomatometer

144 Reviews

65%

Audience Score

50,000+ Ratings

Born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., Christopher Wallace (Jamal Woolard) parlays his gift for storytelling into a career as a rap artist. Eventually dubbing himself Biggie Smalls, then later, the Notorious B.I.G., Wallace's tales about violent street life take him to the top of the rap charts. The subject he so often raps about catches up with him in March of 1997, when he is shot to death after leaving a party. Read More Read Less

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Notorious

What to Know

Critics Consensus

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.

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Critics Reviews

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Nell Minow

Movie Mom

Rated: B-

Feb 14, 2012

Full Review

Henry Barnes

Little White Lies

The inclusion of real-life footage and re-enacted YouTube clips is an interesting idea, but with each awkward stab at a new shooting style, Tillman Jr moves closer towards disgracing his subject with yet another hack job.

Feb 19, 2009

Full Review

Xan Brooks

Guardian

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

Rated: 3/5

Feb 13, 2009

Full Review

Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

Notorious spins a myth that portends to be a docudrama, which is a little insulting when there’s so much more informative and enlightening material out there on the rapper, his life, and especially the circ*mstances of his death.

Rated: 2/4

Dec 15, 2023

Full Review

Richard Propes

TheIndependentCritic.com

Woolard also performs much of the film's music.

Rated: 3.0/4.0

Sep 18, 2020

Full Review

Leigh Paatsch

Herald Sun (Australia)

This so-bad-it's-actually-almost-brilliant biopic has an endearingly dodgy way of softening up hard facts.

Rated: 3/5

May 14, 2020

Full Review

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Audience Reviews

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KENDREA B I love this movie!! Biggie was one of the greatest rappers to ever touch the mic. My only dislike was the portrayal of Lil Kim. Just like she said in an interview..this depiction was far from accurate and I believe it was as well. Rated 4/5 Stars • Rated 4 out of 5 stars 09/16/23 Full Review R B Pretty much what I was expecting. Rated 1.5/5 Stars • Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 06/28/23 Full Review Audience Member Besides the biopic aspects, the cast is really what runs this show. Worth it just for Jamal Wollard’s performance as BIG. Anthony Mackie also does a fine job as Tupac, though not a lot of ground is covered there. And can you stand how great Angela Basset in anything she does? I didn’t believe she was Jamaican and they didn’t explain why she had no accent at all. Also after she gets a troubling diagnosis, the movie loses track of her for a long stretch. And the way Puff is portrayed you would think he wasn’t a man at all but an angel sent to earth to help us all achieve our dreams. Maybe because Puff was producer on this? Yeah. That’s exactly why. All in all super glad I finally pulled this one out of my notoriously big queue. Rated 3.5/5 Stars • Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 06/12/23 Full Review T23Byon M Top notch acting. Real influencer to Hip Hop culture. Real hip hop music. Tearjerker. All in 1. Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 04/12/23 Full Review Jaime R This was the best movie I've ever seen the story behind biggie smalls almost 100% accurate Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/27/23 Full Review Audience Member Whether the movie could have been better is debatable...but what isn't is the extraordinary life of an influential musician. Rated 3.5/5 Stars • Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Notorious

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Cast & Crew

George Tillman Jr. Director Angela Bassett Voletta Wallace Derek Luke Sean "Diddy" Combs Jamal Woolard Christopher Wallace Anthony Mackie Tupac Shakur Antonique Smith Faith Evans

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Synopsis Born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., Christopher Wallace (Jamal Woolard) parlays his gift for storytelling into a career as a rap artist. Eventually dubbing himself Biggie Smalls, then later, the Notorious B.I.G., Wallace's tales about violent street life take him to the top of the rap charts. The subject he so often raps about catches up with him in March of 1997, when he is shot to death after leaving a party.

Director: George Tillman Jr.
Producer: Voletta Wallace, Wayne Barrow, Mark Pitts, Robert Teitel, Trish Hofmann
Screenwriter: Cheo Hodari co*ker, Reggie Rock Bythewood
Distributor: Fox
Production Co: Fox Searchlight
Rating: R (Drug Content|Dialogue|Nudity|Pervasive Language|Some Strong Sexuality)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 16, 2009, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 25, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $36.8M
Runtime: 2h 2m

Notorious | Rotten Tomatoes (2024)

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