The impact that E.L. James’ erotic Fifty Shades of Grey book series has had not only on literature, but also cinema, is still being felt, and Marlon Wayans’ critically panned, and on-the-nose parody Fifty Shades of Black is treating streamers like submissives as it tops the streaming charts.
All but forgotten by audiences, and sitting on just a 4% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, you’d be forgiven for thinking that surely nobody would be going out of their way to watch it, but Hulu’s streaming stats tell a very different story. Sitting comfortably at #10 on the charts, the Fifty Shades parody is showing no signs of climaxing just yet in search for viewers.
Officially, the movie follows a very similar idea as the original Fifty Shades of Grey books and films, outright borrowing shots but adding mostly bad comedic elements. The different really comes down to this being a cast of Black comedians and actors, as opposed to the ultra-white original films with white bread incarnates Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson.
An inexperienced college student meets a wealthy businessman whose sexual practices put a strain on their relationship.
Instead of the fetish and kink stuff being the more classical BDSM tropes, it’s instead just straight up hitting people with chairs before having it get stuck on a man’s extremities. Comedy. That is undoubtedly a joke, somewhere. Other classic zingers and thigh-slapper moments of comedy include a slightly overweight woman knocking a stripper out after she jumps on him for a lapdance. Again, the absolute height of comedy.
Fifty Shades of Black is available to stream on Hulu, for those who are gluttons for punishment.
