"N O T O R I O U S you just lay down slow." The Notorious BIG biopic, Notorious, has been in theaters (somewhere) near you for a couple of weeks and it's doing a pretty nice turn of business (about $31 million through its first 2 weekends) and it’s reviews have been fairly OK (note: Rotten Tomatoes gives it 53% favorable but that site is run by a bunch of Jay Shermans… it stinks!).

But the really interesting part of the whole Christopher Wallace silver screen epic is the reaction of the depicted people in his life, largely the women. First off, the slain rapper had a lot of women influencing his life; mom Voletta Wallace, wife Faith Evans, f*ck buddy/ confidant Lil' Kim (she's fat with a "ph"), f*ck buddy/ chorus singer Charli Baltimore, baby’s mom Jan and Sean Combs (Diddy to the uninitiated) (note: one of them is not actually a woman). And not everyone is pleased with her portrayal, however. Lil’ Kim supposedly did not care one bean for actress Naturi Naughton (or the script) and claims that she wasn't Biggie's jump off (note: "jump off" generally just means good time, a no strings-attached sex partner qualifies). It was later claimed that her Facebook was hacked and those comments were not hers (per Examiner).

And now, per Bossip, Charli Baltimore is pitching a fit about the whole mess. Though she wasn't in the film, she's claiming that she was BIG's number one gal not Jan, Faith or Kim. She also had a few almost choice words for Voletta Wallace. Jesus, this is like one of those stories where the traveling salesman has families in like 5 towns and at the funeral all 5 women step forward as the widow (then a series of misunderstandings typically ensue).

Maybe this is why people usually wait a good 20 years before they make biopics. At any rate, this movie is definitely worth renting, it's a little overly reverential and clichéd in a few places, but an interesting look at the rapper's life. It's interesting that they made this before a real Tupac movie (not a documentary). Maybe there's no actor who could carry that role for 120 minutes (no offense to Anthony Mackie, he has talent). Maybe it's in the works and maybe they're giving it another few years. And maybe no actor is willing to play Suge Knight (Michael Duncan Clark, where are you?).

Thoughts?

Photos: Splash