Beverly Hills Beauties

I thought I was the only one who loved this film. It has everything! The groove, passion, soul food, a butler in a penguin suit, fashion, e.t.c. I'm so sad that this isn't on DVD, because I only buy DVD's. But this film is still one of my favorites. **** out of ****

I remember this movie was in limited release when it came out in 1997. I was able to catch it when it appeared on TMN, our movie channel up here in Canada. Being a fan of Robert Townsend, I really liked his past work like "Hollywood Shuffle" and his TV show "The Parenthood", so I knew I was going to like this flick. Though the beginning of the movie is a little on the weak side, it starts picking up to a nice pace and is entertaining.

Some reviewers were offended by the way African-Americans are portrayed in this movie, as ghetto talking and jiving boneheads. For me, I don't see it that way, I just see it as a comedy-straight up. I can see how people would be offended though, because most of the movies that came out before movies like "Waiting to Exhale" & "The Brothers" came out either portrayed the African-Americans as uneducated ghetto talking airheads, or gangsters, pimps, & drug dealers. Another thing I noticed from some of the reviews both on IMDB & other sources, is that the writers think that it has set back the clock for black actors etc. It was directed by an African-American, which I may add, never received his just props in Hollywood. In conclusion, if it makes you laugh, which the fine actors in this movie achieve whole heartedly, it's all good.

Oddly enough, then I had actually never heard about this 1997 comedy titled "B*A*P*S" form writer Troy Byer and director Robert Townsend. I happened to stumble upon it by random chance here in 2023, and with it being a movie that I never seen, much less heard about, of course I opted to check it out.

I was rather surprised with the cast ensemble in the movie, with the likes of Halle Berry and Martin Landau on the cast list, alongside with an abundance of celebrities portraying themselves in the movie as well.

The storyline in "B*A*P*S", as written by Troy Byer, was pretty straight forward. It was actually entertaining enough for what it turned out to be and there were some funny and nice moments throughout the course of the 91 minutes that the movie ran for. It isn't, however, a movie that warrants more than a single viewing for me, as the storyline just didn't have all that much to offer.

It was nice to see Halle Berry on the screen, though I would never have imagined her playing something like the Nisi character in the movie. Martin Landau gave his usual charm to the screen and he was nicely casted for the movie. I wasn't familiar with actress Natalie Desselle Reid, but she was also quite good on the screen.

Watchable for what it was, "B*A*P*S" is a fair enough comedy good enough for a single viewing.

My rating of "B*A*P*S" lands on a five out of ten stars.

Nisi and Mickey travel into LA to audition for a music video as dancers. They fail the audition but are hired by a man to pose as the granddaughters of rich Mr Blakemore. However the man's son Isaac appears to have more in mind that just this as the two countrified, black princesses stumble their way around in a rich man's world.

It's hard to believe – when watching Halle Berry collected the best actress Oscar in 2002 than only a few years earlier she was in a dog like this! The story is almost a black Pygmalion in it's rags to riches type setting. It's possible to see how it might have worked – but I'm afraid it didn't work at all. The story is unimportant if the laughs come fast and thick….however I barely smiled once. The level of comedy is aimed at an audience who laugh simply because a character talks like a guest on Jerry Springer, ie squealing and yelling `girrrrrrrl!' etc. The comedy never gets above this – it's tacky and silly.

Backing this up is Berry and Desselle. Deselle is terrible – simply hamming up her `blackness' – it's amazing that black audiences are happy with stereotypes and caricatures like this. Berry tries but is poor, mainly due to the material but also because she isn't a tacky country ho! It's amazing that the makers of this film manage to make this classy lady look cheap and ugly by sticking her in gold teeth, cheap clothes and tacky personality. Landau is embarrassing – at times you can see him close his eyes and just thinking of his Ed Wood Oscar! The only one that comes off well is Richardson's Manley – although he is a white Jeffery (Fresh Prince). The list of black cameos (Rodman, Leon, LL Cool J, several MTV vee-jays) don't actual add interest other than to make you wonder how so many managed to get involved in this.

Overall this is not so much bad as just plain embarrassing for all involved. It shows Berry's talent that she came out of this and managed to further her career. Zero laughs, zero interest – a million cringes, what a load of BAPS!

I loved B.A.P.S it was an awesome movie with a meaning. I thought of it as a Romantic Comedy. Halle Berry is one of my favorite actresses and I adore Natalie Desselle. All the other movies Halle played in they were more serious and less funny and B.A.P.S just showed one of her many talents as an actress. When I saw B.A.P.S it was the first time I had ever heard or saw Natalie Desselle and she was wonderful in this movie. This movie proved that they were really Black American Princesses. And besides I love most of Robert Townsend's movies and this was just one of them. Halle and Natalie acted those parts out like they were actually living Nisi and Nikki's lives and I thought that was just outstanding. It may not have been a big hit, but it was to me.