A "bap" is, in British usage at least, a type of bread roll; in slang it can also be used to mean "breast". This film is not, however, either soft-core porn or set in the baking industry. Here the word is an acronym for "Black American Princess". The "B*A*P*S" of the title are Nisi (it's short for Denise)and her best friend Mickey, two black girls from Georgia who fly to Los Angeles to take part in a dancing contest. They don't win, but while they are in the city they are approached by a stranger who makes them a curious proposition. He tells them that he represents an elderly, dying, millionaire, Donald Blakemore, who many years ago was in love with Lily, his family's black maid. The deal is that Nisi will pose as Lily's granddaughter, in return for which she and Mickey will receive $10,000 and free board at the old man's mansion. The girls are so terminally naive they don't realise that this is all a scam and that they are being used as pawns in a scheme by Blakemore's nephew Isaac to defraud his uncle of his wealth.
The term "Black American Princess", coined on the analogy of "Jewish American Princess", is sometimes used to describe young African-American women from wealthy, cultured backgrounds. Its use in this film, however, is deliberately ironic. Both Nisi and Mickey are from working-class backgrounds (Nisi is a waitress, Mickey a hairdresser) and neither can be described as cultured. Indeed, the film has been criticised by some African-Americans for perpetuating the stereotype of working-class black girls as loud, vulgar and tasteless. The film should have received special Razzie nominations for "worst costume design" and, even more "worst hairstyles". Halle Berry, who stars as Nisi, is one of the world's most beautiful women, but even she finds it difficult to look attractive wearing a fluorescent orange trouser suit and with bleached blonde hair piled high on her head. The twist is that at the end of the film the girls become real "princesses" when Blakemore leaves them a legacy to reward them for the happiness they have brought into his life. With the benefits of their new-found wealth they abandon their gold teeth and false nails and dress more stylishly.
The film has been described as a rags-to-riches fairytale along the lines of "Cinderella", although I preferred one reviewer's comparison with "Pygmalion"; Cinderella achieved her good fortune by marrying a prince, whereas at the end of this film Nisi and Mickey return to their original boyfriends in Georgia. For all their vulgarity and lack of class, the girls are depicted as decent and kind-hearted, and therefore deserving of their unexpected good fortune. This characterisation, however, was never really convincing. Any woman who is offered a large sum of money to adopt a false identity really ought to realise that she is being used as part of some dishonest scheme; that Nisi fails to do so suggests she must be either terminally naive or terminally stupid.
A number of good films have been made on the "Cinderella" or "Pygmalion" themes, such as "My Fair Lady" or "Pretty Woman", but unfortunately "B*A*P*s" is not one of them. "Catwoman" (for which she won a "Worst Actress" Razzie to go with her "Best Actress" Oscar for "Monster's Ball") is normally cited as Halle Berry's worst movie, but I found "B*A*P"s" far worse. "Catwoman" may be nonsense, but at least it is enjoyable nonsense, whereas "B*A*P*s" is a vulgar, tacky and witless comedy. There is very little humour in the script; you know that the scriptwriters are desperate when they have to resort to that old chestnut about the girl who is so unsophisticated she doesn't even realise what a bidet is for. The film was simply a waste of the talents of all those involved. Natalie Desselle, who plays Mickey, would not, on the evidence of this film, seem to have much talent to waste, but several of the others- not only Berry, but also Martin Landau as Blakemore and the late Ian Richardson as his stuffy butler Manley- deserved better than this. 3/10
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