No, it’s not a gangster rap remake of the Cary Grant-Ingrid Bergman classic (which might not be a bad idea, come to think of it). Notorious is, or was, Christopher “Biggie” Wallace, aka the Notorious B-I-G, the formidable east coast rapper murdered by an unknown person or group in 1997 at the age of 24 in Los Angeles.

This film took a whooping $21.5 million in the opening week end in the states making it a must see movie of 2009. Christopher Wallace left behind an intriguing yet contradictory legacy as one of hip-hop's best and most well known personalities both in life and the music industry. So it is with "Notorious," an enthralling but strangely elusive biopic from Fox Searchlight.

The film brings aboard many of the key players from his life as producers but can't quite solve the who was "Biggie" mystery.

This riveting cautionary tale, which flies by despite being two-hours in length, focuses on; Growing up in Brooklyn, Christopher Wallace (Jamal Woolard) found no comfort in education, preferring to sell crack on street corners to buy all his material possessions. He dealt with his boredom by practicing his rhyme skills and was immediately heralded as a natural performer, soon introduced to music producer Sean “Puffy” Combs (Derek Luke) and promised glory. Climbing the ranks of the rap game, Wallace rechristened himself Biggie Smalls, enjoying a massive addiction to drugs, women, and music. Through a rollercoaster friendship with Tupac Shakur (Anthony Mackie), combustible relationships with Lil’ Kim (Naturi Naughton) and Faith Evans (Antonique Smith), and the drama with his mama Voletta (Angela Bassett), Wallace fought to juggle all his problems.

The film offers little to meet the real Wallace. Instead, the picture handles the unlikely icon with kitten gloves, making a joke of his problems and whitewashing his often cruel and intolerant behaviour focusing on survival over intelligence. Notorious simply presents Biggie in all his materialist glory, allowing the audience to decided what to make of his f**k-up of a personal life. Professionally, you can only wonder what potential might have been destroyed, since he was cut down in a hail of bullets before the release of his second album.

The women in Wallace’s life hold little substance in the screenplay, with Lil’ Kim and Faith Evans reduced to anonymous sexual encounters for the brazen artist, popping up only when Tillman Jr (Director). wants to hit home the cartoonish points of infidelity into the ground, passing on a chance to add depth and perspective to Wallace’s world by understanding the unfair romantic indifference that repeatedly tripped up his life, the director would rather have his female actors nude than heard.

As you can probably tell I have mixed feeling about this film however there’s a raw and uncut feeling to “Notorious” that will undoubtedly connect it to Wallace’s eager fans. As a film it is well worth a watch, but as a tribute to the man I am not sure it does his life any sort of justice…whether he deserves it or not?

Watch it for your self and let me know what you think.