The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Notorious is a cliché ridden, badly scripted, by the numbers and shallow biopic of New York rapper Christopher 'Notorious B.I.G' Wallace.If it was not for the fact that he died in 1997 I could have sworn he was an Executive Producer of this movie given how much this film hypes him up. A school nerd turned big time drug dealer and babe magnet. It did not matter if a girl in the hood showed no interest in his large girth. A few sweet words, a smile and they would be humping his large frame. This happens repeatedly throughout the film.Now I once knew a fat guy who was a babe magnet, he was also a small time drug dealer. Which begs the question did all these women fall at his feet because Notorious was a rapper or drug dealer or a nobody with lots of charm?The movie deals and speaks in clichés throughout. A character mentions not once but twice lines like, 'we are not here to play the game but to take over the game.' Many of the themes dealt here were better in earlier films like Hustle and Flow and Get rich or die trying. They also had better music.Many of the side characters are depicted in a shallow way. Sean Combs was a producer in this film and he just happens to be portrayed as a great guy in this film. Lil Kim goes from a sweet office worker to a sex bomb. Angela Bassett is a hard working, virtuous mother, who raises Notorious single handedly but her Jamaican accent is a bit off. Tupac Shakur pops in and out of this film but his shooting marks a turning point in this film and the east and west coast rivalry in the mid 1990s.The movie never deals in depth as to what was the cause of this rivalry and why Shakur was shot. The film is not interested in the casual viewer but seems to be squarely aimed at fans of Notorious B.I.G and rap enthusiasts.Even at the end of the movie it is shown that Notorious was maturing, learnt the errors of his way but again its just clichés. I was more interested to know why if it was so dangerous for him to go to California, why did he not wear a bulletproof vest and drive around in a bulletproof car with heavy security? He certainly had the money for it, so was he just arrogant or plain dumb? The film never deals with it but in real life someone would had asked those basic questions.

This movie is amazing. If you're a fan of hip-hop and a fan of biggie then you will love this movie. It got his life story perfectly from when he was a young child drug dealing up to when he became a very successful rapper. It was amazing when he beat that guy in the rap battle and the funeral scene was depressing. Plenty of people say they don't like this movie but it got his life story perfectly and I can't wait until the Tupac movie comes out. Hopefully it will be as good as notorious. They got the east coast/west coast rivalry perfectly in notorious so hopefully they will do that with the tupac movie. Jamal woolard played biggie perfectly and biggies son was very good in the film. Some scenes are sad and some scenes are amazing.

First of all I have to say Notorious BIG is my favourite rapper and one of my favourite music artists ever! I also love a lot of Puff Daddy's 90's music so obviously straight away I'm going to love something about this movie.... The music! The performances are perfect and the man that plays biggie acts as him perfectly. Also all the other actors are superb and all of them seem like the real people that they are acting as. But then this can also be a huge turn off for some people. People that don't like rap music, or Bad Boys records then you are probably not going to enjoy this movie as much because you don't really care about the people as much because you don't respect them for their music. But if your like me and absolutely love rap music especially the early 90's rap and love Biggie's music this is a must watch!

This is one of my favorite movies ever not only because he is my favorite artist, but it's about how he went from drugs and problems to being one of the greatest rapper ever. I remember that a friend to me was a real Biggie fan, and by that time I didn't know who Biggie was. Every day he showed me Biggie songs and the only rapper I was listening to was Tupac. He told me one day that it will be a movie that is about Biggie, and after 2 months the movie was released. We rented the movie and I wasn't so positive to it. But It ended up to being one of my favorite movies.The film is about Christopher Wallace and his life, how he went from being a crack-dealer to a legendary musician. How puffy helped him on the road and made him to the one he became, and how Christopher helped Lil Kim to be the one she became. My favorite part is when he has his beef with Tupac and he is performing in Los Angeles and the people there hates him and he says "you know what, I don't give a f..." And after that he raps the song "who shot ya" that some people say is a dis against Tupac. I like this film because its reality. It's about how it is to live in misery but still fighting hard to reach your goal, and the harder you fight to reach it, the closer you will be to it and one day you'll succeed!