The question isn’t whether Fifty Shades of Black is any good, but whether it’s any better than the movie it’s parodying. Last year’s erotic romantic-drama Fifty Shades of Grey was bad, but as they say—if it’s already broken, maybe don’t try and break it anymore.
In some ways, this is exactly what director Michael Tiddes, co-writer Rick Alvarez, and co-writer/star Marlon Wayans do. From outdated pop culture references to an incredibly crude and unwarranted pencil fellatio scene, Fifty Shades of Black only adds more fuel to the fire of what was already a burned-out pop culture phenomenon.
As depicted in the film’s trailer, Wayans’ newest addition to his extensive line of spoofs follows the same plotline as Fifty Shades of Grey, with a few character changes and many more awkward quips.
While Wayans’ Christian Black is much less rigid than Jamie Dornan’s Christian Grey, Wayans overcompensates for the bland character with an increasingly desperate routine of physical comedy and misplaced political incorrectness. Meanwhile, Kali Hawk’s Hannah Steele portrays a heinously amplified version of Dakota Johnson’s clumsy and plain Anastasia Steele.
In the film’s opening, Black is seen stealing the iconic grey suit and flashy sports car synonymous with the Grey character, while Steele is breaking mirrors with her ugliness and getting her face caught in elevator doors.
Christian meets Hannah in a similar setup as in the film’s inspiration: When Hannah is sent by her roommate Kateesha (Jenny Zigrino) to interview Christian for her college newspaper. Enough flirtation takes place then and during their following encounters that a sort of relationship ensues. The twist that sets Tiddes’ film apart the most from the original is Black’s sexual vigor falls short to Steele’s own appetite for S&M.
The film’s overall narrative is disjointed—like most parodies—but this one felt more awkward than most. The loss might have arisen from its lack of direction and objective. At times it seems as though the film was trying to provide some social commentary in its reference to the Black Lives Matter movement and the overall degradation of women in film, yet the jokes came off more predictable and less effective than intended.
At the same time, one cannot have too high of expectations coming into the experience, but you would expect it to be self-aware, or at least more than the original. The film’s most self-conscious scene depicts Wayans’ character reading E.L. James’ novel Fifty Shades of Grey as the most severe torture on Hannah and calling the book “fifty shades of terrible.” Perhaps unbeknownst to the filmmakers, this scene is only laughable because of the irony that lies behind it.
There are some hits hidden among the misses in the film, like references to Whiplash and The Graduate. The film also features appearances from Jane Seymour and Fred Willard as Black’s adoptive parents, Mike Epps as one of Steele’s stepfathers, and Andrew Bachelor, better known as King Bach, of the app Vine.
Sadly, Bachelor’s presence on-screen also only reminds the audience that maybe their time would be better spent on Vine, rather than sitting through the remainder of the film. At least then there would be better jokes and the laughs free rather than cheap.
