NOTORIOUS

"We can't change the world, until we change ourselves" goes the saying. Gandhi? King? Obama? Phil (Dr.)? Nope. Apparently Diddy, P. uttered these inspirational words to guide and mentor the young Christopher Wallace aka Notorious B.I.G. aka Big Poppa aka Biggie Smalls into superstardom. At least that's how it's all depicted in the biopic NOTORIOUS. Not proclaiming to be an expert by any means on all things notorious, or big for that matter, I can at least spot a notoriously big ego when I see one (groan) Note: In case you didn't know Sean Combs aka P. Diddy produced the this thing, and therefore not surprising that he puts himself in almost Obi-Wan-like light. And though Notorious was everything I had expected, a good kid-turns bad kid-turns bad man-turns good man who is cut down at the prime of life story, a few surprises potentially worth noting:

• Well done voice acting, and girth acting by Jamal Woolard. Note: Beanie Siegel and Sean Kingston auditioned for this role so you know competition was tight
• The atrocious Jamaican accent used by Angela Basset as Voletta Wallace, Big's mom. Seriously it makes you cringe.
• The negative light cast on Lil Kim as an attention starved, Biggie-obsessed, starlet-hussy, whose lyrics would be explicit for most 1-900 numbers I know of. On second thought, not that surprising.
• The schizophrenic tendencies of Tupac Shakur, (think more Mr. Hyde than Dr. Jekyll), who's family (or whoever owns his image) must be drafting the libel suit as you read this.
• The apparently dwarf-like stature attributed to James Lloyd (aka Lil' Cease). He doesn't age in the movie's 24 year timeframe and is definitely not old enough to drink or drive, though is Biggie's personal driver. "Throw the keys to Lil' Cease, pull the truck up front and roll up the next blunt" - Big Poppa
• The audacity/blinding ignorance of the 40 year old white man who brought his 10 year old daughter to see this R-rated, violent, sex-filled, bad mouthed, drug taking movie. Ill-played sir.

Verdict - I enjoyed but best to buy the soundtrack (which disappointingly enough, they don't make good use of in the movie)

-D.I.G.