>
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. Read critic reviews
What to know
You might also like
See More
88 Minutes
Deception
The Runaways
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
Untraceable
Where to watch Notorious
Watch Notorious with a subscription on Paramount Plus, Showtime, rent on Amazon Prime Video, or buy on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Vudu.
Rate And Review
-
What did you think of the movie? (optional)
You're almost there! Just confirm how you got your ticket.
You're almost there! Just confirm how you got your ticket.
What did you think of the movie? (optional)
How did you buy your ticket?
-
Fandango
-
AMCTheatres.com or AMC AppNew
-
Cinemark Coming Soon
We won’t be able to verify your ticket today, but it’s great to know for the future.
-
Regal Coming Soon
We won’t be able to verify your ticket today, but it’s great to know for the future.
-
Theater box office or somewhere else
Notorious Photos
Movie Info
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.
-
Rating: R (Drug Content|Dialogue|Nudity|Pervasive Language|Some Strong Sexuality)
-
Genre: Biography, Drama
-
Original Language: English
-
Director: George Tillman Jr.
-
Producer: Voletta Wallace, Wayne Barrow, Mark Pitts, Robert Teitel, Trish Hofmann
-
Writer: Cheo Hodari Coker, Reggie Rock Bythewood
-
Release Date (Theaters): wide
-
Release Date (Streaming):
-
Box Office (Gross USA): $36.8M
-
Runtime:
-
Distributor: Fox
-
Production Co: Fox Searchlight
Cast & Crew
News & Interviews for Notorious
Critic Reviews for Notorious
Audience Reviews for Notorious
-
By-the-numbers biopic, done competently enough to be watchable, but told in a very conventional, often bland way. Jamal Woolard, though serviceable, doesn't bring any real depth or nuance to the role that would elevate an otherwise lackluster film. The script hits on all the familiar beats for such a story, but never really gives the film any cohesive narrative that would be a compelling story even if it wasn't a biopic, it simply goes from scene to scene, all with an obvious and contrived feel. While enjoyable enough to stick with it, its lack of ambition or inspiration is frustrating. 3/5 Stars
-
He was known as the Notorious B.I.G., a man-mountain of rap, but behind the image was Christopher Wallace, an overgrown kid who was trying to grow up and do the right thing. The image we know about. The film "Notorious" is more interested in the kid. He was born in Brooklyn, loved his mother (a teacher who was studying for a master's degree), got into street-corner drug dealing because he liked the money, performed rap on the street and at 20 was signed by record producer Sean Combs. Four years later, he was dead. Documentaries about B.I.G. have focused on the final years of his life. "Notorious" tells us of a bright kid who was abandoned by his father, raised by a mother from Jamaica who laid down the rules and told the kids on the playground he would be famous some day. "You too fat, too black and too ugly," a girl tells him. He just looks at her. He is sweet-tempered, even after being seduced into the street-corner crack business, but he sounds tough in his rap songs -- tough, introspective, autobiographical and a gifted writer. In "Notorious," they show how talent can lift a kid up off the street corner, but can't protect him in a culture of violence. The whole gangsta rap posture was dangerous, as B.I.G. and Tupac proved.
-
Think of it as a Horatio Rapper tale, a truly American Rags to Bling story that encompasses all of the finest elements of a good bio-pic. The material is honest and heartfeltfor the lead actor, this assessment goes tenfold. Best of all, like the best of the genre, the film is more interested in its subjects eventful life than controversial death. Perhaps, the film could have been even more warts-and-all and less like a filmstrip, but the story that results is never boring. Buoyed by an amazingly dead-on performance, Notorious is everything an invigorating biography should be. In this R-rated bio-pic, the life and violent death of East Coast rapper Christopher Wallace, AKA Notorious B.I.G. (Woolard), is chronicled. The film takes a definite vantage point, albeit in successive cradle-to-grave chapters. And this is not to say that the film should have embraced a manic, non-linear, cross cutting approach a la NixonNotoriouss style is in its straightforwardness. Oftentimes, the flick feels like a music video, which would normally be met with cries of foul by your reviewer. Given the fact that the breadth of the story takes place during the MTV Age, however, this manner serves the material perfectly. Though the material drives alongside his drug-selling, two-timing, and warring with fellow rapper Tupac Shakur, the script never crashes head-on into the overall issue of angel or devil. Instead, it arguably takes a definite biased stand, elevating its subject to pariah. There is no debating the star-making turn by Woolard, however. His brilliant performance rings of realism. Bottom line: Noteworthy but not hypnotic.
-
This biopic is all over the place. It moralizes too much, and it doesn't answer big questions, like what did Big really think, and how were his songs produced. What path was he really on? This film just makes Big's mother and Sean Combs look good for posterity.The only authentic voice is in the music.
Verified