Fifty Shades of Black tries to help ring in the New Year with resolutions

December 31st 2015, 5:12pm

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

I know that when Marlon Wayans shows up in front of many of you in a spoof capacity, you start to cringe. You anticipate the attempts at humor that don't even come close to landing, and you get yourself ready for something that is about to be painful to watch. I don't think FIFTY SHADES OF BLACK is going to change your mind one bit on this Wayans approach to comedy that hasn't quite got it right since DON'T BE A MENACE TO SOUTH CENTRAL WHILE DRINKING YOUR JUICE IN THE HOOD and, to a lesser degree, the first SCARY MOVIE.

FIFTY SHADES OF GREY is an easy target to poke fun of… I'm not sure Wayans has the nuance in his arsenal at this point to make it work. However, I'm not disregarding this film entirely, so hear me out… I believe Kali Hawk has been underrated for far too long, and – call it a hunch – but I get the feeling she might be able to use her performance to break out here and go on to some bigger opportunities to show how funny she can be. We get a bit of a taste here.