''Fifty Shades of Black'' is a 2016 American slapstick

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film directed by

Michael Tiddes Michael Tiddes is an American film director and producer, best known for directing ''A Haunted House'' and ''A Haunted House 2''. Career In 2013, Tiddes made his feature film directing debut with the horror comedy film ''A Haunted House'', bas ...

and starring Marlon Wayans, who also serves as co-writer and co-producer. A

parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...

of the 2015 erotic

romantic drama Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...

film ''

Fifty Shades of Grey ''Fifty Shades of Grey'' is a 2011 erotic romance novel by British author E. L. James. It became the first instalment in the ''Fifty Shades'' novel series that follows the deepening relationship between a college graduate, Anastasia Steele, ...

'', the film co-stars

Kali Hawk Kali Hawk (born October 4, 1986) is an American actress, comedian, model and jewelry designer. She has starred in films such as '' Fifty Shades of Black'', ''Couples Retreat'', '' Bridesmaids'' and '' Tyler Perry Presents Peeples''. She recurred ...

, Affion Crockett,

Jane Seymour Jane Seymour (c. 150824 October 1537) was Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII of England from their marriage on 30 May 1536 until her death the next year. She became queen following the execution of Henry's second wife, Anne ...

Andrew Bachelor Andrew Byron Bachelor (born June 26, 1988), also known as King Bach is a Canadian-American Internet personality and actor who rose to fame on the now-defunct video sharing service Vine, where he had 16.2 million followers, making him the most fol ...

Florence Henderson Florence Agnes Henderson (February 14, 1934 – November 24, 2016) was an American actress. With a career spanning six decades, she is best known for her starring role as Carol Brady on the ABC sitcom ''The Brady Bunch''. Henderson also appeare ...

Jenny Zigrino ''Bad Santa 2'' is a 2016 List of theatrical Christmas films, Christmas black comedy drama film directed by Mark Waters (director), Mark Waters and written by Shauna Cross and Johnny Rosenthal. A standalone sequel to the 2003 film ''Bad Santa'', ...

Fred Willard Frederic Charles Willard (September 18, 1933 May 15, 2020) was an American actor, comedian, and writer. He was best known for his roles in the Rob Reiner mockumentary film '' This Is Spinal Tap'' (1984); the Christopher Guest mockumentaries '' W ...

and

Mike Epps Michael Elliot Epps (born November 18, 1970) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He played Day-Day Jones in ''Next Friday'' and its sequel, ''Friday After Next'', and also appeared in ''The Hangover'' and '' The Hangover Part III'' as "Bl ...

. The film was released theatrically on January 29, 2016 to near universally negative reviews. Despite this, it was a box office success, grossing $22 million worldwide from a $5 million budget. It was also

's last film before her death on November 24, 2016, which was 10 months after the film was released.

Plot

Christian Black introduces shy college student Hannah Steale to the world of "romance" after she interviews him for her school newspaper. Their kinky relationship stumbles forward despite Christian's shortcomings as a lover and the antics of his racist adoptive mother Claire, his well-endowed brother Eli and Hannah's hyper-sexual roommate Kateesha.

Cast

Production

On June 3, 2015, it was announced that

Open Road Films Open Road Films, LLC (formerly Global Road Entertainment from 2017 to 2018) is an American film production and distribution company based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded by Eric Hohl on March 26, 2011 as a joint venture between the t ...

had acquired the US distribution rights to the yet-to-be made film for $5 million.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...

on the film began August 11, 2015, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

Release

The film was released in North America on January 29, 2016, alongside ''

Kung Fu Panda 3 ''Kung Fu Panda 3'' is a 2016 computer-animated martial arts comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is the third installment in the ''Kung Fu Panda'' franchise and the sequel to ''Kung Fu Panda 2 ...

'', '' The Finest Hours'', and ''

Jane Got a Gun ''Jane Got a Gun'' is a 2015 American Western film directed by Gavin O'Connor and written by Brian Duffield, Joel Edgerton, and Anthony Tambakis. The film stars Natalie Portman, Joel Edgerton, Noah Emmerich, Rodrigo Santoro, Boyd Holbrook, an ...

''. The film was projected to gross $10–11 million from 2,075 theaters in its opening weekend. The film grossed $275,000 from its Thursday night previews, $2.3 million on its first day, and $5.9 million in its opening weekend, finishing 10th at the box office. The film was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

on April 19, 2016.

Reception

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval rating of 4% based on 46 reviews; the average rating is 2.79/10. The site's consensus reads, "Wildly erratic even for a spoof movie, ''Fifty Shades of Black'' bears the unfortunate distinction of offering fewer laughs than the unintentionally funny film it's trying to lampoon." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a score of 28 out of 100 based on 11 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale. Critic Mark Kermode dismissed ''Fifty Shades of Black'' as another lame parody film, among the likes of ''

Scary Movie ''Scary Movie'' is a 2000 American slasher parody film directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans and written by Marlon and Shawn Wayans (who both also star), alongside Buddy Johnson, Phil Beauman, Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. Starring Anna Fari ...

'' (2000), ''

Epic Movie ''Epic Movie'' is a 2007 American parody film written and directed by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer and produced by Paul Schiff. It stars Kal Penn, Adam Campbell, Jayma Mays, Jennifer Coolidge, Faune A. Chambers, Crispin Glover, Tony Cox ...

'' (2007) and ''

Vampires Suck ''Vampires Suck'' is a 2010 American parody vampire film written and directed by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. It stars Jenn Proske, Matt Lanter, Christopher N. Riggi, Ken Jeong, Anneliese van der Pol, and Arielle Kebbel. The film is a ...

'' (2010). Austin film critic

Korey Coleman Korey Coleman (born September 9, 1971) is an American film critic, animator, filmmaker, voice actor, and comedian. He is best known for his now defunct film review site, Spill.com and its current spiritual successor Double Toasted. Biography ...

ended his review by starting an online petition to stop Marlon Wayans from making any more parody films. He gave it the #1 spot for the worst movie of 2016, tying it with ''

Yoga Hosers ''Yoga Hosers'' is a 2016 American comedy horror film written and directed by Kevin Smith. It is a spin-off of Smith's 2014 horror film '' Tusk'' and stars Smith's daughter Harley Quinn Smith, Lily-Rose Depp, and her father, Johnny Depp. The sec ...

''. Kermode was critical of the humor: "Cue jokes about wallet and car theft, fried chicken and Bill Cosby, alongside glasshouse/brick complaints about EL James being a rubbish writer. When it all runs out of steam, the cock-and-ball routines downshift into riffs from ''Whiplash'' and ''Magic Mike'', but sadly, these aren’t funny either." J.R. Jones condemned the jokes as a set of "amplified racial stereotypes and misogynistic swipes", citing the running gag of male characters calling Hawk's character "ugly", as well as the rape jokes, as examples. Henry Barnes claimed there is a "Cosby joke, a Kanye joke and huge spaces where the laughs should be", particularly arguing that the "abuse is amplified out of the realm of satire into a weird hinterland of really unfunny gross-out and blaxploitation revenge flick". Jones did, however, highlight the "impressive attention to detail, meticulously re-creating the original film's costumes and sets, and Kali Hawk nails her Dakota Johnson impression as the virginal protagonist".

Accolades

References

External links

* * * * * {{Fifty Shades (trilogy) 2016 films 2016 romantic comedy films 2010s parody films 2010s sex comedy films Adultery in films African-American comedy films African-American films American parody films American romantic comedy films American sex comedy films American slapstick comedy films BDSM in films 2010s English-language films Films directed by Michael Tiddes Films scored by James Dooley Films shot in Los Angeles IM Global films Open Road Films films Vertigo Films films 2010s American films