Unless you have purposely removed MTV and VH-1 from your cable line-up listing, it would be all but impossible to have avoided, in some way, catching coverage of the untimely deaths of two of the rap community’s biggest stars: Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur.
Once again controversial documentarian Nick Broomfield interjects himself into yet another esoteric subject that one could never have anticipated… the story of two great friends who apparently had a misunderstanding and became bitter enemies.
Immediately Broomfield throws out conspiracy theories, from the LAPD’s involvement, to Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs and finally to Death Row records mogul, Suge Knight … all of which seem equally valid, or invalid to say the least. The major problem in making these accusations is not that they are unbelievable, it is that almost without exception, all of the people interviewed lack any credibility or sincerity. This is to say that they all appear dishonest and simply stating scenarios that may or may not be true.
Broomfield never finds one conspiracy theory and follows it … presumably to its conclusion, either proving or disproving. The film simply contains interviews and the chips happen to fall where they may, of course not before adding his often funny narration.
Overall, the doc comes off as more comical than revealing as the only fact it succeeds in proving, with any veracity, is the petty nature of most parties involved. It fails to bring to light anything much deeper than public record or any piece of evidence above that of the average fan’s knowledge. This is not saying that it is a bad documentary, because Broomfield is nothing if not entertaining, it is just not very informative. Unfortunately this film will not satisfy if you are looking to discover the missing link, but if you are simply interested in humor and some “interesting” footage, to say the least, you will not be disappointed.
