B*A*P*S (1997) on Netflix
Two waitresses in Decatur, Georgia, want a hair salon and soul food restaurant in one place. Nisi and Mickey fly to Los Angeles for a contest that could pay for it.
- Netflix3.4/5
- IMDb4.9/106,407 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes16%
Trailer
Plot summary
Nisi and Mickey wait tables at a diner in Decatur, Georgia, and put money aside for a place of their own that would serve soul food and style hair. Their boyfriends, Ali and James, talk about owning a luxury cab company. Hearing of a video girl contest with a $10,000 prize, the two spend their savings on flights to Los Angeles so Nisi can enter, and she studies a book on etiquette on the way. She leaves the auditions without the dancing role, but a man named Antonio offers them the same fee for another music video and asks them to come to a Beverly Hills mansion.
Cast
- Troy Byeras Tracy Shaw (as Troy Beyer)
- Darrel Heathas Terrance
- Vince Cookeas Z.Z.
Show all 22 cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about B*A*P*S (1997)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a rare no-stars rating, calling it "jaw-droppingly bad and stupid", and later put it on his "most hated" list, writing facetiously that it would ease racial tensions by uniting audiences who opposed its "excruciating boredom".
- Screenwriter Troy Byer was disappointed by the final cut and believed her "words had not honestly made it onto the screen". She noted it was the first time Robert Townsend had directed a film he had not written himself, and she used her earnings from it to direct her own first film.
- In 2018 Anne Cohen of Refinery29 called the film a "Black cult classic" that deserved better than its 13% Rotten Tomatoes rating at the time, arguing that the film's lasting impact proves it spoke to its audience.
- A stage version was originally slated to open in May 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic closed the production; Natalie Desselle-Reid, who was preparing to reprise Mickey, died that year, and Angela White, formerly known as Blac Chyna, was cast as Nisi.
- B.A.P.S. was the first screenplay written by former actress Troy Byer, who was disappointed by the final cut and said her "words had not honestly made it onto the screen". It was also the first time director Robert Townsend made a film he had not written, and Byer used her earnings from it to direct her own first film.
