While "Notorious" is a solid biopic of the life of East Coast rapper Christopher Wallace (better known as Biggie Smalls or Notorious B.I.G. because of his girth), the movie suffers ultimately by its one-sided, fawning portrait of the talented rapper, who was shot and killed at the age of 24 in 1997.

The movie unravels near the end of its two-hour running time, as it seems as Wallace is trying to complete all of the items on a bucket list before his death: reconcile with his mother, take responsibility for his children, whisper sweet nothings to all of the women he has ever wronged (and there are plenty of them). Revealing his death isn't giving away the ending, because the first moments of the film reveal that he has been shot

The movie's too-tidy ending doesn't satisfy because the audience is unable to see the catalyst of what really turned Wallace from an egotistical womanizer into the Man of the Year. The producers of the film -- including his mother and music producer Sean "P. Diddy" C****s, the latter whom owes his career to Wallace -- obviously and successfully aim to lionize Wallace.

What the extremely R-rated film does well is trace Wallace's life as a child abandoned by his father through his ascent to the top of the music world. Jamal Woolard portrays Wallace from the age of 17 to his death. He does a serviceable job of expressing the flaws in Wallace's character and his early attraction to the mean streets during his days as a drug dealer, but Derek Luke as the charismatic (and, obviously, angelic, considering who produced the movie) C****s and Anthony Mackie as rapper Tupac Shakur steal every scene they are in with their oversized personalities.

What's compelling about "Notorious" is the surprisingly deft way screenwriters illustrate the origins and context of the East Coast vs. West Coast rap conflict that the movie uses to explain the tit-for-tat deaths of Shakur and Wallace. While the movie places all of the blame on Shakur and his mentor Suge Knight for instigating the violent rivalry, the animosity that develops provides an interesting arc.

The film also does a good job of delineating the difference between West Coast (exemplified by Shakur) rappers and East Coast (personified by Wallace) rappers in the first place, with the West Coast producing hard-edged gangsta rap while C****s and Wallace crafted a more melodic, radio-friendly style of rap, which continues with such contemporary rappers as T.I., Young Jeezy and Lil Wayne.

"Notorious" is for the most part enjoyable because of the B.I.G.-heavy soundtrack that revives the spirit of the early 1990s. But in the end, placing the fictional character of Notorious B.I.G. on a sycophantic pedestal makes the film the kind of sentimental trifle that the real-life Wallace abhorred.