Movie Critique: B.A.P.S

Livin' large and Takin' charge!

This '97 African American comedic film has been the ultimate cult classic. The movie opens at Johnson Soul Food Restaurant in daylight. Inside the restaurant, the food on the grill looks hot and greasy. Nisi (played by Halle Berry) dressed in her waitress uniform, blonde hair or blonde wig, long nails, and gold tooth give Nate, a customer, (played by Rudy Ray Moore aka Dolemite) but the toast is burnt. She takes his food back into the kitchen and scarps the burnt off toast. Nisi's best friend Mickey (played by Natalie Desselle) approaches and says, "Girl, don't pay him no mind he thinks he's Dolemite" referring to his film character name. After Nisi serves Nate his food, she hears an announcer on the radio that MTV and rapper Heavy D (played by himself) are looking for and giving away $10,000 cash prizes until Mr. Johnson (played by Bernie Mac) sees Nisi daydreaming and docks Nisi's pay. We meet Nisi and Mickey's boyfriends Ali and James (played by Pierre Edwards and A.J. Johnson) one dressed in the 1970s get-up pimp attire with 70s perm hairdo and the other dressed in a thrifty dollar store pimp. On their way to the auditions, Nisi and Mickey were dressed in over the top outrageous outfits and outrageous wigs, their wigs were blocking the screen on the plane, they met another rapper LL Cool J (played by himself) their first celebrity encounter. At the audition, there was a long line of aspiring female dancers auditioning to be in the music video. Just when they were about to head next to the audition room Nisi shows off her dazzling hilarious audition dance moves.

Unfortunately, Nisi and Mickey failed their auditions and their hairs until they meet Antonio(played by Luigi Amodeo) a limo driver who works for Mr. Blakemore a rich man living in Beverly Hills and later falls in love with Mickey. The Blakemore mansion looks like it was worth millions of dollars. They met an uptight butler Manley (played by Ian Richardson ) and Mr. Blakemore's nephew Isaac (played by Jonathan Fried) who tricks Nisi and Mickey to befriend his uncle Mr. Blakemore (played by Martin Landau).

My favorite scene would have to be Mickey's cooking sequence. The scene was incredible watching Mickey show off her cooking skills showing Blakemore's chefs how to cook real soul food after seeing the disappointment at the dinner table. Another favorite scene would have to be the shopping spree sequence when Mr. Blakemore aka Mr. B takes Nisi and Mickey on a shopping spree around the expensive Beverly Hills area.

First Nisi and Mickey tried on some new clothes. Then Mr. B tries on some new clothes making himself a new man.

When I watched the part when James was crying expresses that he wants to give her everything and promises to treat her like a queen. If you watch the scene, you can tell Mickey wanted to laugh but she doesn't want to break character then she accidentally knocks into the pool when he said he means every word he said.

I love the costume designs including the shopping spree sequence when Nisi and Mickey try on new clothes, the same thing with Mr. B making him a new man. Everything in this film is deliberately hilarious. Halle Berry and Natalie Desselle make an amazing comical pair unlike Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels in the film Dumb and Dumber even though I kinda like the film. Martin Landau character Mr. Blakemore is such an honest, innocent character who loved Nisi and Mickey, I love the way he bonded with Nisi and Mickey, and I love how his character delivered their acronym name titles B.A.P.S (Black American Princesses) Troy Breyer who played as Mr. B's attorney in the film and also the screenwriter of the film, wrote astonishing comical rags to riches story about two black women doing whatever it takes to go after their dreams. This film deserves more praise, the costumes are fascinating, it has an incredible filming location, and a ridiculous humorous cast of characters.

Distribution: New Line Cinema

Director: Robert Townsend

Producer(s): Mark Burg , Jay Stern

Writer: Troy Beyer

Cast: Halle Berry , Martin Landau , Ian Richardson , Natalie Desselle, Troy Beyer, Luigi Amodeo, Jonathan Fried, Pierre Edwards, A.J. Johnson, Bernie Mac, Rudy Ray Moore

Music: Stanley Clarke

Cinematography: Bill Dill

Editor: Patrick Kennedy

Rating: PG-13

Release date: March 28, 1997

Running time: 92 minutes

Remembring Natalie Desselle Reid

Rest in Peace Natalie