#REVIEW: “FIFTY SHADES OF BLACK”

Review by Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong

Director Michael Tiddes and comedic star Marlon Wayans have teamed together in recent years on horror spoofs A Haunted House and its Sequel.  They return for a third time with the regretfully-unfunny parody of BDSM Romance, Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades of Black. Screenwriters Rick Alvarez and Marlon Wayans are tasked with carrying the weight of crafting some heavy-hitting jokes, however the Film alas gives us only a few memorable ones.

At the start of the Film, we meet Christian Black (Marlon Wayans)  – the man with everything whether it be looks and money. For the opening few minutes we see him stealing suits, stealing cars amongst other things and we begin to question his legitimacy. This works on one hand due to the Film being a parody, but it is far too easy. Moving forward we meet our female lead, Hannah Steale (Kali Hawk) who has to interview Mr. Black and things only get awkward from then on out. The two embark on a sexual relationship and spawned from there is much of the humour within the Film.

The challenge with Fifty Shades of Black is that it is parodying a Movie which already isn’t perceived well critically, limiting the range of what can be poked-fun at, which we already haven’t chuckled about.  It does a fair job recreating moments from its source material, but lacks that punch that makes it witty or ironic. Previous endeavours such as A Haunted House and the Scary Movie franchise from Wayans certainly raised that humour bar high, giving us hope that 50 Shades of Black would have been funnier than it actually is. Instead even as a Wayans fan, we found ourselves at times offended at how much of a pushover Hannah is.

Fifty Shades of Black delivers a few sparks within its runtime, but we’re not sure even Wayans fans will find enough to love here this Valentine’s Day. D Films release FIFTY SHADES OF BLACK on Friday, January 29, 2016.