Rank: 0.5/5
“50 Shades of Black” follows college graduate Hannah as she falls in love with Christian Black, a wealthy businessman who has a very specific sexual preference that weighs heavily on their relationship.
If the title and plot sound familiar, that’s because they are. “50 Shades of Grey” is the type of film that is asking to be spoofed. The problem with the spoof is this film has no idea how to properly execute it.
Some successful knock-off films include “Airplane,” “Hot Shots!” and “Austin Powers.” These films make it look easy because they not only do a great job of satirizing the films they are based on, but they have original jokes that have nothing to do with the movies they are spoofing. You don’t need to see the movies they are making fun of to find them funny.
“50 Shades of Black” doesn’t mock the scenario of the original film, it just recreates scenes and plays them for jokes.
In the original film, Anastasia trips as she walks into Mr. Grey’s office. Here, Mr. Black’s office door won’t open, so Hannah slams into it several times without any success. After the second attempt, the joke is old, so it becomes louder.
This is the structure of all the humor in the film. Riff on scenes from various movies, draw it out as long as possible and make it louder and cruder the longer it goes on.
There is no inkling of a story to be found in this recreation. You don’t believe that Hannah and Christian are in any kind of relationship. The filmmakers aren’t interested in that because they act as if a caricature of an existing story is enough to hold up an audience’s attention.
“Saturday Night Live” works with this premise. Yet, SNL is able to successfully satirize material and make it feel like a fresh take on what it is making fun of. It also does so in less than five minutes.
This film should be able to make you laugh without having seen “50 Shades of Grey.” But even if you’ve seen the original, this spoof is a comedic wasteland.
Originally, spoof movies would use an existing film merely as a skeleton with which to build original material. They threw logic out the window of a speeding car and jokes hit you in the face by the second.
This type of film is beyond lazy and not worth a minute of your time.