The Wayans Family has created quite an entertainment dynasty over the past three decades or so. Long before anyone had heard of Tyler Perry, the Wayans Brothers, as most people refer to them, started creating big and small screen entertainment that catered to the African-American audience. The Wayans brought us the sketch comedy show "In Living Color" (1990-1994) which, in turn, helped launch the careers of Jim Carrey, Jamie Foxx and David Alan Grier, among others, as well as films like "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka" (1988), "Major Payne" (1995) and the "Scary Movie" horror film parodies (2000-2013).
The Wayans are mostly known for their parodies. 2016 adds another one to the list with Marlon, the youngest of the original "Wayans Brothers", co-writing and starring in "Fifty Shades of Black" (R, 1:31). Most will immediately recognize that this film is a take-off on 2015's very successful film adaptation of the book "Fifty Shades of Grey". Like most of the Wayans' films, pop culture and movie references abound, but "Fifty Shades of Black" duplicates much of the plot of the film that inspired its comedy. You'll see what I mean in the following plot summary (which, by the way, is necessarily risqué).
Hannah Steele (Kali Hawk) is an attractive and intelligent college senior in Washington State who fills in for her sick roommate, Kateesha (Jenny Zigrino) in interviewing billionaire business magnate Christian Black (Marlon Wayans) for the college newspaper. Hannah gets flustered in the presence of this sophisticated, supremely-confident and mysterious man. Christian is quite taken with Hannah – and take her is what he soon decides he wants to do. He shows up at the hardware store where she works, takes her out to coffee and even comes to "rescue" her when she drunk dials him from a bar. Despite how obvious it is to the main characters and to the audience that these two are very, very different – and despite the title character's own conflicted resistance – these two cannot resist each other. But Christian very clearly states, "I don't do romance." That doesn't stop Hannah from being drawn to this man.
As Hannah discovers more about the cipher that is Christian, she learns that he is wounded – both emotionally and physically – by his childhood. She seems to want to comfort this man who acts as if he needs no comforting and begins to love this man who tells her that he is only interested in her for sex. Being the woman in Christian Black's life means submitting completely – sexually and otherwise – to his whims. As he eases her towards an understanding and acceptance of his lifestyle, she has to sign a non-disclosure agreement, he convinces her to have sex (actually "f--- hard", as he describes it) and then shows her his "playroom." This usually locked room is painted dark red, has a bed and is filled with various restraining devices and implements of sadomasochistic sex play. Hannah is shocked, but not necessarily repulsed. Christian presents his contract which describes Hannah's role as his submissive.
I just did something I've never done before (or even been remotely able to do) in a movie review. The previous two paragraphs are actually cut and pasted from my 2015 review of "Fifty Shades of Grey"! Using the "find/replace" function in Microsoft Word, I changed the names of the characters and the actors playing them to match those in "Fifty Shades of Black" and I shortened the summary, but I did not add or change anything else. (You can scroll down our timeline to my "Grey" review to see for yourself.) But rest assured there's plenty in "Black" besides just recreating and making fun of scenes from "Grey". "Fifty Shades of Black" also seamlessly incorporates Wayans-esque versions of scenes from such movies as "Whiplash" and "Magic Mike". There are also references to a plethora of other popular movies, TV shows and books, plus a generous helping of pop culture satire and some politics. This is the kind of film which is so fresh, it feels like it was written a month before its release, but that means that its humor (and perhaps its appeal) will quickly become dated. Of course, there's also plenty of racial humor, much of it stemming from white actors Jane Seymour and Fred Willard playing the title character's parents.
Like much of the Wayans' work, "Fifty Shades of Black" is very funny in spots, but those spots are small and spread out. The few clever/amusing jokes and sight gags and even fewer laugh-out-loud moments seem adrift in a sea of gross-out humor and over-the-top acting which is often not that funny. Still, most Wayans fans will probably enjoy the film and those who've only seen a little of their work may find this one good enough for a mild recommendation. "B-"
The Wayans are mostly known for their parodies. 2016 adds another one to the list with Marlon, the youngest of the original "Wayans Brothers", co-writing and starring in "Fifty Shades of Black" (R, 1:31). Most will immediately recognize that this film is a take-off on 2015's very successful film adaptation of the book "Fifty Shades of Grey". Like most of the Wayans' films, pop culture and movie references abound, but "Fifty Shades of Black" duplicates much of the plot of the film that inspired its comedy. You'll see what I mean in the following plot summary (which, by the way, is necessarily risqué).
Hannah Steele (Kali Hawk) is an attractive and intelligent college senior in Washington State who fills in for her sick roommate, Kateesha (Jenny Zigrino) in interviewing billionaire business magnate Christian Black (Marlon Wayans) for the college newspaper. Hannah gets flustered in the presence of this sophisticated, supremely-confident and mysterious man. Christian is quite taken with Hannah – and take her is what he soon decides he wants to do. He shows up at the hardware store where she works, takes her out to coffee and even comes to "rescue" her when she drunk dials him from a bar. Despite how obvious it is to the main characters and to the audience that these two are very, very different – and despite the title character's own conflicted resistance – these two cannot resist each other. But Christian very clearly states, "I don't do romance." That doesn't stop Hannah from being drawn to this man.
As Hannah discovers more about the cipher that is Christian, she learns that he is wounded – both emotionally and physically – by his childhood. She seems to want to comfort this man who acts as if he needs no comforting and begins to love this man who tells her that he is only interested in her for sex. Being the woman in Christian Black's life means submitting completely – sexually and otherwise – to his whims. As he eases her towards an understanding and acceptance of his lifestyle, she has to sign a non-disclosure agreement, he convinces her to have sex (actually "f--- hard", as he describes it) and then shows her his "playroom." This usually locked room is painted dark red, has a bed and is filled with various restraining devices and implements of sadomasochistic sex play. Hannah is shocked, but not necessarily repulsed. Christian presents his contract which describes Hannah's role as his submissive.
I just did something I've never done before (or even been remotely able to do) in a movie review. The previous two paragraphs are actually cut and pasted from my 2015 review of "Fifty Shades of Grey"! Using the "find/replace" function in Microsoft Word, I changed the names of the characters and the actors playing them to match those in "Fifty Shades of Black" and I shortened the summary, but I did not add or change anything else. (You can scroll down our timeline to my "Grey" review to see for yourself.) But rest assured there's plenty in "Black" besides just recreating and making fun of scenes from "Grey". "Fifty Shades of Black" also seamlessly incorporates Wayans-esque versions of scenes from such movies as "Whiplash" and "Magic Mike". There are also references to a plethora of other popular movies, TV shows and books, plus a generous helping of pop culture satire and some politics. This is the kind of film which is so fresh, it feels like it was written a month before its release, but that means that its humor (and perhaps its appeal) will quickly become dated. Of course, there's also plenty of racial humor, much of it stemming from white actors Jane Seymour and Fred Willard playing the title character's parents.
Like much of the Wayans' work, "Fifty Shades of Black" is very funny in spots, but those spots are small and spread out. The few clever/amusing jokes and sight gags and even fewer laugh-out-loud moments seem adrift in a sea of gross-out humor and over-the-top acting which is often not that funny. Still, most Wayans fans will probably enjoy the film and those who've only seen a little of their work may find this one good enough for a mild recommendation. "B-"