Notorious B.I.G. - Nenhum Sonho é Grande Demais

When a musician reaches a certain level of fame in their career, many companies will seize on the opportunity to cash in. One of these ways is through a film biopic of their life, which gives old and new fans a chance to explore the depths of their idols and see a more interesting side of them that they hadn't previously been aware of. Notorious (based on the life of rapper Notorious B.I.G) is one such example, and while it is an enjoyable and compelling piece, it is perhaps more suited to the rapper's new fans rather than his die- hard ones.

The story focuses on the life of Biggie Smalls (AKA the Notorious B.I.G) from his early beginnings as a New York drug dealer to his early success when he signs on to Bad Boy Records to his personal relationships later in life to his untimely death by an unknown assailant. The story is one of the film's major problems, as while it goes over his life's important events, it often just skims through them, without going into much depth. The most detail the film goes into about his life is his womanising. It's surprising that the film has been called hagiographic, as it does show the ugly side of this, as he is very passive about it, eventually cheating on his wife because of it, who (quite rightly) throws him out of their house, and it gives both the film and its title character the conflict that it otherwise lacks, and is the most engaging part of the film because of it.

The rest of the film is more standard, as it shows us many of his life's highlights in brief portions, which while interesting to those who may not be familiar with the rapper, isn't as exciting if you already know the story. It also doesn't help that the film clearly alters history for its own ends. Bad Boy Record head Puff Daddy (who also produces the film) is suspiciously portrayed more hagiographically than BIG himself, many of BIG's problems aren't perhaps as accurately as they should be (i.e. the drug dealing and firearms charges aren't as severe as they would be in reality) and you can't help that the film has a overtly negative view of the West Coast rap scene, mainly that of Suge Knight & Tupac Shukar, leading to many set-pieces (mainly one which describes why Tupac turned on Biggie) that even those who have reservations towards Suge and Tupac (I have my own) won't buy.

The film still manages to be quite an enjoyable ride though, as the pacing is good and a lot of the acting is great, particularly that of Jamal Woolard as the title character. Apparently he put a lot of preparation into the role (i.e. learning the songs word perfect, researching his character), and it clearly shows, and fits perfectly into the role because of it, and brings more appreciation and depth to the rapper than the film itself. All the other actors are pretty good too, with the exception of Anthony Mackie as Tupac Shukar, who while good, doesn't bother to attempt to look (only bearing the slightest resemblance) or sound like Tupac, something even more distracting considering Jamal's accuracy to his role or how one of Tupac's songs plays on the radio at one point, making the differences even more obvious.

However, despite its faults, Notorious isn't an overall bad film. It's just a very flawed biopic that is worth watching, but mainly for those who are unfamiliar with the subject, as it gives the viewer the basic facts about the star, to perhaps create new fans in the process who will look more in-depth afterwards. But for those who are die-hard fans, the film is still pretty good for what it is. Perhaps it doesn't go into as much depth as one likes, and certain details about the film have either been altered or fabricated, but it is still an entertaining, engaging and perfectly watchable film that is occasionally very detailed and you'll be treated to some fine acting, especially from Jamal Woolard who was clearly born to play the Notorious B.I.G, and it also has the very upbeat and positive message of following your dreams. It's quite good overall and is worth watching, but it may still take a while for the definitive story of the Notorious B.I.G to be made, even though this is a good first stab. Just don't confuse this for the Hitchcock one.

I watched this movie with great expectation. Besides the hype surrounding it, for someone who embraced hip hop for many years being influenced by the like of Biggie Smalls, Nas & Tupac to mention a few, it only made sense for me to want to watch this movie.

From the beginning i could not seem to get over the way in which B.I.G was portrayed as this smart, lovable young boy because it made me look at him in a whole different light that i initially thought. I feel his son played the part well (though he did not have much to do). The story line is pretty straight forward and there are a few surprises concerning the emotions the characters invoke in you and make you understand them more deeply. The acting was not bad, i actually like the guy who acted as Biggie, he made the character quite interesting and lovable. The rest of the cast were not too bad either: Puffy, Faith Evans and the guy who played Biggie's manager were good too (don't expect any Oscar winners though!)

From a neutral point of view (without being a Notorious B.I.G or Tupac fan) i really felt that they tried to explain the beef between the artists with a more lenient view of Biggie. When watching the movie i couldn't help but think how much Biggie was the 'bigger man' in the beef and that Tupac simply caught a fit at the wrong people. Then i had to ask myself a few questions about that. The movie makes you want to take Biggie's side on the whole issue. I don't know if this is true but i felt that it was rather unfair no matter how much of a nice guy Biggie was. In watching this movie its hard to see it any other way than that the beef was Tupac's fault. It's up to you to believe it or not.

All in all it was a good effort, nothing too memorable but a story worth knowing especially if you want to know more about some of the most critical times in Hip Hop. Biggie fans will undoubtedly love this.

That should have been the title of the movie. Everything about this movie glorified Big..... if he was a nerdy student - he's gonna the nerdiest student.... if he was a drug dealer - he was gonna be the biggest drug dealer - complete with him sitting in a dark room with that one light that shines down on the table (classic).... if he didn't know anything about Tupac's murder - then he's gonna appear as if he was absolutely oblivious to that entire situation.... not to mention one of the supporting characters in this movie, Kim.... if Kim was gonna be a ho - she's gonna be the dirtiest ho ever.... If I didn't know any better, I would assume the only way she came up was by f'king Biggie.... This is a one-sided, shallow view of a person's life. Biggie fans want to remember his legacy flawless and that can be understood. Sure why not? This movie was made for you..... It's a story told as though a mother is speaking of her lost son who could do no wrong.....

Recommendation: Why not learn who Biggie was by beefing up the content of the supporting cast.... his first baby's momma for starters, and what about other artists that he interacted with? We could have seen a more developed, well-rounded and truthful character. Possibly even learn something about him that hasn't already been discussed in magazines or on TV....

The Movie was way better then I thought. The actors/actress in it resembled each person in everyway possible. The little kim character was on point even the way she spit those lyrics in the bedroom. According to Naturi Naughton who played the role of little kim she never rapped before but you couldn't tell the way she flowed. When she performed in that lacey outfit towards the end you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between her and kim. The biggie character played by gravy was also on point as well. The voice, build and complexion was spot on. When the faith character sung "I remember" I couldn't believe how great she sang, and it didn't look like she was lip sycn-ing at all. I really enjoyed the movie and it brought me back to those great times in college when I was hooping for Suny Farmingdale.

I was disappointed about one thing and that was the drama aspect. Nothing surprised me about it, because everything in the movie we already knew. It wasn't one thing in the movie that left anything to the imagination. It was very predictable because I already knew he sold drugs, he went to jail, then got discovered by puffy, he blew up, then he died. So probably 15 minutes into the movie I pretty much knew what would happen next. I still loved it and the music in it.

Back in the 90's as a teen, I never really got in to Biggie's music or lyrics. I never knew the correlation between he and all these artists like "Puff Daddy" Faith Evans, Lil Kim all came up together. I never understood how the East Coast West Coast feud got started.

This film gave me a new respect for Christopher Wallace. His intelligence and how he tied that in to his passion for music and lyrics. He had a dream as a child and in the end he achieved that dream of not just becoming a success as a performer, but a success as a father to his children, a good son to his mom, and a good man to himself.

I love that line in the move "If you wanna change the world, First you've got to change yourself"

Inspirational film, even if you're not a fan of his music or hip hop, you can still appreciate the story behind this man.