Notorious (2009) Critic Reviews

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

Notorious makes the death of Biggie Smalls look like a tragic mistake, instead of the outgrowth of a culture devoted to selling the fantasy of who's the biggest man.Read the full review

Through it all are the rhymes and the music, hugely enjoyable in their own right, and the long, large shadow of Biggie.Read the full review

A rock-solid biopic with a foolproof rise-and-fall storyline and a warmly nuanced performance by Jamal Woolard.Read the full review

For a man apparently making his first film, Woolard carries the movie like a pro. Cross your fingers that this is no fluke, for this guy could be a real comer.Read the full review

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. And what is there can be troubling and retrogressive.Read the full review

It's the spirit that Biggie Smalls, born Christopher Wallace, put into inventing himself and his music that ignites Notorious, a biopic that sees the flaws in the man but can't help accentuating the positive.Read the full review

After 110 minutes of the "n" word being deployed with abandon, Biggie vows to renounce it. And just like that a deluxe episode of "Behind the Music" turns into an evening at church.Read the full review

It's not bad enough to walk out on but neither is it good enough to walk into.Read the full review