Fifty Shades Darker
Universal Pictures | Release Date: February 10, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
33
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 39 Critic Reviews
Positive:
2
Mixed:
18
Negative:
19
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
70
VarietyGuy LodgeFeb 8, 2017
For all its structural and psychological deficiencies, it’s hard not to enjoy Fifty Shades Darker on its own lusciously limited terms. Read full review
67
MTV NewsAmy NicholsonFeb 10, 2017
The movies aren't so bad they're good. They're so brilliantly bad they're genius, with Foley dutifully presenting every inane plot point while gifting us excuses to laugh. Read full review
58
IndieWireKate ErblandFeb 9, 2017
Whipping up a proper tone for the big screen versions of E.L. James’ wildly popular novels was always going to be the films’ biggest problem, and while director James Foley might not quite nail it, wily injections of humor prove to be an unexpectedly helpful addition to the kinky franchise. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinFeb 13, 2017
People are calling Fifty Shades Darker the worst movie ever made, but it’s really not that terrible. It does, however, misrepresent itself, which is true of most mainstream American films about sex. The movie’s real subject is wealth. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyFeb 10, 2017
There's a lot of inadvertently hilarious stuff in Fifty Shades Darker. Read full review
50
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallFeb 9, 2017
Fifty Shades Darker is what you'd expect from encoring a regrettable one-night stand. Not a keeper, but nothing to gnaw off your arm about. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperFeb 9, 2017
This is one good-looking, occasionally titillating, mostly soapy and dull snooze-fest. Read full review
50
TimeStephanie ZacharekFeb 9, 2017
There’s one significant problem with both Fifty Shades movies that’s impossible to ignore. Dornan is just a dud. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleFeb 9, 2017
A strange good movie, bad in every way but its effect. And it’s an effective woman’s story, not exactly believable, but with another kind of truth, a truth of the heart. If that’s not enough, it’s close. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshFeb 9, 2017
The last third of the film descends straight into a combination of "Dynasty" with shades of cult classic "The Room." It's fantastic because it's complete and utter silly madness. Helicopter crashes! Slaps! Drinks thrown in faces! Fully clothed shower sex! A framed "Chronicles of Riddick" poster! All the makings of an instant cult classic. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeMeredith GoldsteinFeb 9, 2017
Even with an improved Dornan, the movie still belongs to Johnson, a character actress capable of making light of a movie pretending to be darker. Read full review
45
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeFeb 9, 2017
It’s nice that the two photogenic leads are treating sex like a pleasurable activity rather than an onerous chore in this second entry, but overall, the film plays like an un-asked-for collaboration between the Hallmark and Playboy Channels. Read full review
42
The Film StageDaniel SchindelFeb 9, 2017
In porn, everything besides the sex scenes are just setups for the sex scenes. Here, everything feels like it’s only there to set up lavish parties or high-class adventures. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyDevan CogganFeb 9, 2017
Darker is strangely plotless and devoid of any real tension. Read full review
40
EmpireOlly RichardsFeb 13, 2017
It’s glossy and at times goofily funny, mostly thanks to Johnson’s subtle comic skills, but the novelty of this messy relationship is really beginning to wear off. Read full review
40
ScreenCrushMatt SingerFeb 9, 2017
Fifty Shades Darker is a very faithful sequel; a milquetoast continuation of a bland romance between two boring people. Read full review
40
The TelegraphRobbie CollinFeb 9, 2017
The awkward middle course charted by new director James Foley (Glengarry Glen Ross, House of Cards) and his cast is unsatisfying in terms of head, heart and, well, elsewhere. It’s an alleged 18-rated, adults-only filth-fest that behaves like a flustered PG. Read full review
40
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoFeb 9, 2017
Fifty Shades Darker is a befuddling, messy erotic "thriller" that shifts tones faster than audiences can keep up with. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsStephen Whitty Feb 9, 2017
Since Dornan is as dull as a catalog model anyway — he wanders through the movie like an Abercrombie searching for his Fitch — the shopping-list look of the movie makes sense. But Dakota Johnson deserves better. Read full review
40
Screen DailyTim GriersonFeb 9, 2017
Sometimes sexy, sometimes campy, Fifty Shades Darker is a smorgasbord of silliness, its dopey pleasures indistinguishable from its many awkwardly melodramatic moments. Read full review
38
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliFeb 10, 2017
This is a bad film - at times it’s nigh unwatchable - but that doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreFeb 9, 2017
A film which promises “darker” but delivers “funnier” — with some of the laughs intentional. Read full review
33
The PlaylistWill AshtonFeb 9, 2017
Pulseless, perfunctory and persistently watering down its kookier instincts, Fifty Shades Darker pales in comparison to the first. You might as well call it Fifty Shades Duller. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleJosh KupeckiFeb 15, 2017
Apart from a few moments of fleeting suspense, Fifty Shades Darker resembles a Facebook feed of someone you kind of knew in high school who maybe went on to have a glamorous future, but everything seems a little bit off and contrived. Read full review
30
Village VoiceMelissa AndersonFeb 10, 2017
Despite the nonstop banality, Johnson remains the sole source of allure: Her sleepy eyes suggest nights devoted to pleasure inconceivable to James. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranFeb 9, 2017
This is a surprisingly dull and tedious affair where nothing is even remotely plausible, the romance and the sex least of all. Read full review
30
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzFeb 9, 2017
This is a horrible movie. Which makes it not a lot different from the first film. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeFeb 9, 2017
Leonard and Foley offer enough semi-naked sex scenes here to prove that quantity is no substitute for chemistry. Read full review
25
ObserverRex ReedFeb 14, 2017
It’s fifty times more boring than the first one. It is also fifty shades dumber. Read full review
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kate TaylorFeb 9, 2017
What makes it downright offensive are all the romance-novel flourishes that Leonard and the melodramatically inclined director James Foley, also new to the franchise, bring to glittering three-dimensional life in Fifty Shades Darker. Read full review
25
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldFeb 9, 2017
It’s not a terribly good idea to base a movie on a book in which almost nothing happens for 500 pages, but that’s what we have here. Read full review
25
Slant MagazineChristopher GrayFeb 9, 2017
Fifty Shades Darker takes the Dark Knight approach to franchise maintenance, taking pains to assure you that its protagonists are serious about their passions. Read full review
25
USA TodayBrian TruittFeb 9, 2017
There are a lot of negative things to be said about Fifty Shades Darker. But it does impress in one sense: The erotica lite sequel somehow manages to be worse than the stupefyingly bad "Fifty Shades of Grey." Read full review
25
New York PostKyle SmithFeb 9, 2017
Fifty Shades will make you dumber. Read full review
25
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeFeb 9, 2017
It’s a female-driven fantasy, for sure, but that doesn’t mean it’s not toxic. And God help the poor woman who believes it. Read full review
20
The New York TimesManohla DargisFeb 9, 2017
A professional with real credits, so I assume that [Mr. Foley's] not finally responsible for the ineptitude of Fifty Shades Darker, which ranges from continuity issues to unsurprisingly risible writing. There are also abrupt swings in tone, dead-end detours and flatline performances, including from Ms. Johnson. Read full review
16
ConsequenceAllison ShoemakerFeb 9, 2017
Dull at best, damaging at worst, and not worth a moment of your time. Read full review
12
Rolling StonePeter TraversFeb 9, 2017
This, however, is not Mamet – it's a beast of roaring stupidity that devours everything in its path, including the veteran filmmaker. Read full review
10
SlateLaura BennettFeb 16, 2017
Fifty Shades Darker is very faithful to its predecessor’s vision. That is to say, it is another terrible movie with just the slightest whiff of self-awareness about how terrible it is. Read full review
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