Antonique Smith and Nautri Naughton do well in the rather underwritten parts of Faith Evans (Christopher Wallace's wife) and Lil’Kim, a woman who would through Biggie’s help would start a rap career. If I were to pick a good performance out of the two, I would say Smith gives the better of the two despite the little she is given to do. I will say this – you’ll never have to worry about Antonique Smith getting jacked in Brooklyn.
When she beats the hell out of someone – it looks almost real. Ms. Smith probably took a lot of “beating the crap out of someone” classes. If I'd been the white woman she beats to a pulp I would become a monk immediately.
Damn.
Nautri Naughton doesn’t really get a chance to go beyond "ghetto sex kitten" with her version of Lil’Kim. That blame I put squarely on the screenwriters. Naughton does a good job, but may have been directed to not portray much warmth. I think. Lil’Kim, at least in this movie, was portrayed as a bit of a cold-shouldered woman.
I didn’t agree with Kim when she attacked the film for not portraying her accurately. Although I agree she was written as merely an opportunist and a slut who may have loved Biggie in the beginning, I disagree with her argument that she wasn’t given any control over how she was portrayed. And with her attacks on Nautri Naughton’s performance.
The truth of the matter is that Lil’Kim could have told her own story. She chose not to and allowed George Tillman, Jr. and the screenwriters of Notorious (Reggie Rock Bythewood and Cheo Hodari Coker) to do it for her. If the real Kimberly Denise Jones made a point of putting her wealth, her fame and her talent to the creation of her own bio-film, it wouldn’t matter how other films portray her. She should rent The Beatles Anthology for an example of taking control of your own story.
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