| 90 |
Los Angeles Times
One of the better documentaries I'd seen in years -- it plays like a suspense thriller because that's exactly what it is.
|
| 88 |
Chicago Sun-Times
Compulsively watchable and endlessly inventive as it transforms Broomfield's limited materials into a compelling argument.
|
| 83 |
Entertainment Weekly
At best, a half-finished puzzle, but Broomfield leaves you with questions that few investigators have even dared to ask.
|
| 80 |
Chicago Reader
A wily and dogged inquisitor, Broomfield cajoles and confronts a variety of witnesses, charting a web of intrigue that also involved the LAPD, the FBI, and assorted gangbangers and rogue cops.
|
| 75 |
New York Daily News
Broomfield conducts riveting interviews with a former LAPD officer, Biggie's fiercely protective mother and assorted hangers-on, but the actual thrust of his evidence seems almost irrelevant.
|
| 75 |
San Francisco Chronicle
Neva Chonin
Has been called an exploitation of a tragedy, but in fact it's an expose of tragic exploitation.
|
| 75 |
Chicago Tribune
Those not well versed in the rap music world may be a little lost at times, but you don't need to know your Ice-T's from your Cool-J's to realize that as far as these shootings are concerned, something is rotten in the state of California.
|
| 70 |
The New York Times
Whether or not you buy Mr. Broomfield's findings, the film acquires an undeniable entertainment value as the slight, pale Mr. Broomfield continues to force himself on people and into situations that would make lesser men run for cover.
|
| 70 |
Film Threat
Perhaps that's what makes thus such a compelling documentary; it will grip even viewers who aren't interested in rap, as it cuts to the heart of American society in an unnerving way.
|
| 70 |
LA Weekly
Deceptively rambling, shrewdly ragtag documentary.
|
| 60 |
Village Voice
This is Oliver Stone country, but Broomfield's self-effacing affect is more Woody Allen,
|
| 50 |
Variety
Broomfield's shaggy p.o.v. always troubles -- blurring the lines between tabloid and serious reportage, morbid curiosity and hard facts, objectivity and amusing, quasi-amateur stuntsmanship.
|
| 50 |
Washington Post
Richard Harrington
Tends to speculation, conspiracy theories or, at best, circumstantial evidence.
|
| 40 |
Salon.com
Eric Boehlert
It's no exaggeration to say that roughly half of the interviews in Biggie and Tupac are worthless, offering no new information or insights about the rappers or their deaths.
|
| 40 |
TV Guide
Overall, the film is occasionally interesting but essentially unpersuasive, a footnote to a still evolving story.
|
| 30 |
Washington Post
Alona Wartofsky
Broomfield's style of journalism is hardly journalism at all, and even those with an avid interest in the subject will grow impatient.
|
| 12 |
New York Post
This time out, Broomfield comes up with maybe enough halfway decent material for a 10-minute segment on a second-rate tabloid TV show.
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