DATE: Tuesday, April 1, 1997                TAG: 9704010034

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E5   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: MOVIE REVIEW

SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC 

                                            LENGTH:   57 lines

``B.A.P.S.'' TRIPPED UP BY CHARACTER GAPS

B.A.P.S.'' is an extremely funny idea that should have become a funny movie.

Two vinyl-clad Georgia beauticians go to Los Angeles in hopes of becoming famous video dancers and are adopted by an ancient Beverly Hills billionaire who is willing for them to make his last days happy ones. The possibilities of culture-clash shenanigans are seemingly as foolproof as in ``The Beverly Hillbillies.'' Do audiences ever tire of seeing poor folks prove to rich folks just how much better it is to be poor - and how much they've been missing? It may not often make sense in real life, but it almost always works in the movies.

The least bit of characterization could have made this an ingratiating film. Instead, the script takes the low road and merely has its players fall about, bump into furniture, use profane language and model skin-tight costumes. The culture clash is all but abandoned in favor of burlesque slapstick.

If nothing else, the film proves that it is possible, if you try really hard, to make Halle Berry look tawdry. Berry, one of the more glamorous women currently in film, makes a career mistake by trying to become Lucille Ball this time out. She models a gold tooth, a terrible blonde wig, over-sized earrings and 9-inch nails. But still, ``full-figured'' Natalie Desselle easily steals the film. Desselle has most of the comic situations but she is asked to do no more than play a stereotype and be the brunt of visual ``fat jokes.'' She earns her money but no woman should be subjected to this kind of derision.

Martin Laundau, Oscar winner for ``Ed Wood,'' is saddled, too, with a lack of script. One gets the idea that the part should be a lovable old codger who is made aware of the fun side of life by the visiting women. Instead, he looks pretty intense and serious about it all. He seems, too, overly possessive about calling the women ``my B.A.P.S.'' (for Black American Princesses).

Director Robert Townsend allows every possibility to be played so broadly that it seems, too often, that the film is begging for laughs. Townsend knows how to go for a laugh, which might be fine in stand-up comedy, but he doesn't know how to go for a character. His directorial career has been checkered. ``Hollywood Shuffle'' was hilarious - and just the kind of unplotted, sketch-comedy that is his strength. ``Meteor Man'' failed because it overdid it. ``The Five Heartbeats'' was so well-intentioned that it should have done better at the box office.

``B.A.P.S.,'' with just a modicum of characterization, could have been much more. Still, Berry and Desselle work hard. If only they had more to do than mug. ILLUSTRATION: MOVIE REVIEW

``B.A.P.S.''

Cast: Halle Berry, Martin Laundau, Natalie Desselle, Ian

Richardson

Director: Robert Townsend

MPAA rating: PG-13 (language, skin-tight costumes)

Mal's rating: **

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