Fifty Shades of Grey (2015)

The story of the innocent Anastasia Steele and the ever-so-mysterious Christian Grey has lit the loins of women everywhere, making them yearn to be immersed in the billionaire’s dark world of chains, whips and handcuffs. Touted as porn for the middle aged woman, the kinky novel reached best-seller status in no time, and shortly after received the big screen treatment, courtesy of Universal Pictures and Focus Features, starring relatively under-the-radar thespians Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan. Johnson is an American model and actress primarily known as Kate in the short-lived Fox sitcom Ben And Kate, while Dornan is a Northern Irish model and actor who was cast in Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette and had a reprising role in Once Upon a Time.

The E.L. James series plus the movie adaptation were a success based on the number of books sold and box office stats. The franchise even prompted an explosion of Christian Grey-themed merchandise, from Imagination’s board game for parties to Adam & Eve’s Fifty Shades of Grey collection of sex toys. Despite Fifty Shades becoming mainstream, the movie fell short of expectations, for those that read the novels and others who were merely wondering what the fuss was all about.

In some aspects, the movie was strangely enjoyable in terms of the predictability of the scenes (this only applies to the people who’ve never read any of the books) and less-than-accurate depictions of the BDSM world. It’s funny how you don’t have to read the any of the novels to know that the movie disappointed, but some seem to praise the film for being less mock-worthy than the literature. The Hollywood Reporter’s Sheri Linden explains, “The movie is, by definition, a stronger proposition than the book because it strips away the oodles of cringe-inducing descriptions and internal monologue that tip the text heavily toward self-parody.”

The film was laughable, but one of the more ridiculous parts of the motion picture had to be Rita Ora’s cameo as the adoptive sister Mia Grey. For months she promoted her first ever movie role for which she collaborated with acting coaches (including one to help her master the French accent) to nail the character, only for her to receive 90 seconds of screen time at the end of it. It was difficult to grasp if her training paid off or not, as her minute-and-a-half film debut only consisted of four lines and barely qualify as acting. Maybe the original screenplay had more lines for her. Unfortunately the director, like most of us were, probably was underwhelmed with her performance.

The reviews are mixed, with most of them leaning towards negative criticism. Although the movie was a letdown, Fifty Shade Darker (2017) will probably reel in more viewers than the first installment since the second film will take on a different tone and be more of a thriller. Who knows, maybe the second movie will turn out better than the first.

This guest post was written by Ethan Stevens.