|
Now Playing
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search
Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
58
Adam Resurrected
64
Appaloosa
69
Ashes of Time Redux
68
August Evening
54
Battle in Seattle
75
Betrayal - Nerakhoon, The
70
Black Balloon, The
55
Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The
51
Breakfast with Scot
xx
Cargo 200
44
Chandni Chowk to China
63
Changeling
64
Che
55
Cherry Blossoms
84
Christmas Tale, A
92
Class, The
38
Dark Streets
58
Defiance
xx
Donkey Punch
xx
Dostana
62
Duchess, The
46
Dukes, The
63
Eden
xx
Extreme Movie
69
Fear(s) of the Dark
26
Filth and Wisdom
28
Fireproof
80
Frost/Nixon
43
Gardens of the Night
73
Girl Cut in Two, A
39
Good
54
Good Dick
30
Guitar, The
84
Happy-Go-Lucky
31
Hounddog
21
House of the Sleeping Beauties
50
How About You
70
Hunger
72
I Served the King of England
70
I.O.U.S. A
40
Igor
79
I've Loved You So Long
64
JCVD
65
Just Another Love Story
xx
Killshot
29
Lake City
57
Last Chance Harvey
82
Let the Right One In
31
Let Them Chirp Awhile
xx
Local Color
89
Man on Wire
70
Moscow, Belgium
36
My Name Is Bruce
28
Nobel Son
43
Not Easily Broken
64
Nothing But the Truth
74
Of Time and the City
40
Other End of the Line, The
34
Otto; or Up with Dead People
75
Pool, The
78
Pray the Devil Back to Hell
xx
Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi
82
Rachel Getting Married
58
Reader, The
56
Religulous
32
Repo! The Genetic Opera
53
RocknRolla
64
Scott Walker: 30 Century Man
80
Secret of the Grain, The
81
Silent Light
86
Slumdog Millionaire
57
Special
80
Stranded: I Have Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains
67
Synecdoche, New York
82
Tell No One
68
Theater of War
67
Timecrimes
83
Trouble the Water
43
Tru Loved
83
U2 3D
89
Waltz with Bashir
59
We Are Wizards
79
Wendy and Lucy
71
What Doesn't Kill You
55
What Just Happened?
61
Where God Left His Shoes
40
While She Was Out
81
Wrestler, The
48
Yonkers Joe
92
Class, The
89
Waltz with Bashir
89
Man on Wire
86
Slumdog Millionaire
84
Christmas Tale, A
84
Happy-Go-Lucky
83
Trouble the Water
83
U2 3D
82
Tell No One
82
Rachel Getting Married
82
Let the Right One In
81
Wrestler, The
81
Silent Light
80
Stranded: I Have Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains
80
Secret of the Grain, The
80
Frost/Nixon
79
Wendy and Lucy
79
I've Loved You So Long
78
Pray the Devil Back to Hell
75
Pool, The
75
Betrayal - Nerakhoon, The
74
Of Time and the City
73
Girl Cut in Two, A
72
I Served the King of England
71
What Doesn't Kill You
70
Black Balloon, The
70
Hunger
70
Moscow, Belgium
70
I.O.U.S. A
69
Ashes of Time Redux
69
Fear(s) of the Dark
68
August Evening
68
Theater of War
67
Timecrimes
67
Synecdoche, New York
65
Just Another Love Story
64
Che
64
JCVD
64
Nothing But the Truth
64
Appaloosa
64
Scott Walker: 30 Century Man
63
Changeling
63
Eden
62
Duchess, The
61
Where God Left His Shoes
59
We Are Wizards
58
Adam Resurrected
58
Defiance
58
Reader, The
57
Special
57
Last Chance Harvey
56
Religulous
55
Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The
55
What Just Happened?
55
Cherry Blossoms
54
Battle in Seattle
54
Good Dick
53
RocknRolla
51
Breakfast with Scot
50
How About You
48
Yonkers Joe
46
Dukes, The
44
Chandni Chowk to China
43
Tru Loved
43
Gardens of the Night
43
Not Easily Broken
40
While She Was Out
40
Igor
40
Other End of the Line, The
39
Good
38
Dark Streets
36
My Name Is Bruce
34
Otto; or Up with Dead People
32
Repo! The Genetic Opera
31
Hounddog
31
Let Them Chirp Awhile
30
Guitar, The
29
Lake City
28
Nobel Son
28
Fireproof
26
Filth and Wisdom
21
House of the Sleeping Beauties
xx
Dostana
xx
Cargo 200
xx
Local Color
xx
Donkey Punch
xx
Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi
xx
Killshot
xx
Extreme Movie
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Notorious
Fox Searchlight Pictures
MPAA RATING: R for pervasive language, some strong sexuality including dialogue, nudity, and for drug content
Starring
Jamal Woolard,
Angela Bassett,
Derek Luke,
Anthony Mackie,
Antonique Smith,
Naturi Naughton,
Dennis White,
and
Julia Pace Mitchell
In just a few short years, Notorious B.I.G. rose from the streets of Brooklyn to become one of the most influential hip hop artists of all time. B.I.G. was a gifted storyteller; his narratives about violent life on the streets were told with a gritty, objective realism that won him enormous respect and credibility. His stories were universal and gave a voice to his generation. (Fox Searchlight)
| GENRE(S): |
Drama
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Reggie Rock Bythewood
Cheo Hodari Coker
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
George Tillman Jr.
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
Theatrical: January 16, 2009
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
88
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
A good film in many ways, but its best achievement is the casting of Jamal Woolard, a rapper named Gravy, in the title role.
83
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
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.
80
Newsweek
Allison Samuels
Though there was little surprise by the end--how could there be?--Notorious,' a movie about the life and death of rapper Christopher Wallace (a.k.a. The Notorious B.I.G., a.k.a. Biggie Smalls, a.k.a. Biggie), still managed to stun, unsettle and move me.
80
Chicago Reader
Andrea Gronvall
Engrossing biopic, throbbing with style and attitude.
80
New York Daily News
Elizabeth Weitzman
Layering his film with the songs that made his subject an icon, Tillman is aware that Biggie connected with his audience because he told stories others instantly understood. Notorious does that, too.
75
Premiere
Jenni Miller
Angela Bassett is great as his strict, single mother; The soundtrack is great, of course, and the ending features moving archival footage of the streets of Brooklyn after Wallace's murder.
75
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
What gives Notorious its staying power is what happens before AND after its hero's death.
75
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
The director is a cinematic equivalent of his subject, but a man who was able to reach middle age and examine that culture's good and bad points with a clear, detached mind.
75
New York Post
Kyle Smith
Much closer to Scorsese than "Scarface," Notorious gives a heartfelt yet clear-eyed sendoff to the late Brooklyn rapper Christopher Wallace.
70
The Hollywood Reporter
Kirk Honeycutt
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.
70
Variety
John Anderson
A rock-solid biopic with a foolproof rise-and-fall storyline and a warmly nuanced performance by Jamal Woolard.
70
Los Angeles Times
Betsy Sharkey
Through it all are the rhymes and the music, hugely enjoyable in their own right, and the long, large shadow of Biggie.
70
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
Surprisingly and pleasantly unflashy, a straightforward picture that makes a distinction between classiness and bling.
63
Boston Globe
Wesley Morris
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.
63
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
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.
63
Philadelphia Inquirer
Dan DeLuca
It's an engaging enough story, crisply told, and the lip-synced music scenes in the studio and on stage are brought off in high style.
63
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
It's not bad enough to walk out on but neither is it good enough to walk into.
63
USA Today
Claudia Puig
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.
60
The New York Times
A.O. Scott
Notorious settles into a curious comfort zone; it's half pop fable, half naturalistic docudrama. Not a bad movie, but nowhere near as strong as its soundtrack.
58
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Nathan Rabin
Notorious suffers from biopic-itis, that regrettable tendency to reduce complicated lives to a greatest-hits assemblage of melodramatic highs and agonizing lows.
50
Village Voice
Robert Wilonsky
Notorious, despite its bigger-than-life subject and habit of dripping sex sweat at the most unexpected moments, is rather square.
50
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
Bassett as Voletta is her usual captivating self.
50
Portland Oregonian
Shawn Levy
What the picture doesn't do is make sense of the world it tries to depict, or even, truly, depict it. Biggie -- and, for that matter, Woolard -- deserved better.
50
San Francisco Chronicle
Justin Berton
A fawning bio-pic.
50
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Travis Nichols
For anyone looking for something as real or engaging as Biggie's music -- or a good introduction to it -- will be disappointed by this mediocre celluloid life-after-death.
50
Slate
Dana Stevens
Like a drunk on a bender, Notorious seems to have given up even trying to moderate its dependence on cliché.
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Rick Groen
Notorious isn't, not even remotely.
50
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
Notorious excels at showcasing Wallace's music and his magnetism as a performer: It fares less well at giving that music a proper context.
50
The New Yorker
David Denby
The movie leaves us with the sense that, twelve years after Biggie Smalls's death, a lot of people are trying to extract whatever profit or pride they can from the chaotic life of a young man who was, as he well knew, a work in progress.
30
Film Threat
Pete Vonder Haar
Absent the actual music, Notorious would be a lot worse.
30
Washington Post
Chris Richards
Cloyingly, Biggie narrates his tale from the grave. It's a device that feels irksome and condescending.
 The average user rating for this movie is 5.0 (out of 10) based on 38 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Discuss this movie in our forums |
|
