Review - 50 Shades of Grey

Romance, Infatuation and Spanking

By: Paul Hall

Control. Many want it. Many desire it. Some desire to be controlled. Will the film Fifty Shades of Grey control you for 2 hours?

First, for those of you who don’t know the story let’s bring you up to speed. Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) gets sent to the wolf to do an interview with the ultra-successful Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan). Reading her roommate’s questions, Ms. Steele is simply at the beginning of an infatuation.

Christian has an interesting way about him. He is not interested in a relationship. He lives his life in control of everything around him, including his women. The relationship that sparks with Ana is one that will have its footings in a contract. That contract allows Christian control of virtually everything in her life. The question is, will she submit to it?

There is a playroom, and it doesn’t contain an X-box. Filled with items that are not often seen in the light of day, the film explores handcuffs, rope and much more. But is this room for pleasure or pain? Or is there a gray area in the truth behind the room.

DAKOTA JOHNSON stars as curious college student
Anastasia Steele in the phenomenon "Fifty Shades of Grey".
Copyright: © 2015 Universal Studios and Focus Features.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

At its core, this is a love story. A young girl desires to be pursued by the tall, dark and handsome
stranger. She wants romance but she also is exposed to things that intrigue her. To get the man of her dreams, she has to step out of her comfort zone.

Dakota Johnson does a good job at showing us the naïve, yet curious girl who has never stepped out of her comfort zone. She is in control, for now. Jamie Dornan doesn’t seem as well cast in the Christian Grey role. Christian is tormented, yet composed, a predator and a pursuer. It feels like Dornan is more wooden in his role and only sometimes with intent.

The biggest problem for me is the structure of the dialogue between Christian and Anastasia. It felt unnatural and awkward. Again, some of these conversations were definitely intentional while others felt like just misses. I think future films could provide the depth of characters to make more of this onscreen romance palatable, but as a stand-alone film this doesn’t do it.

The views of women and men on this film will probably wildly differ. As a film, objectively, this offers less arousal and more questions. That being said, I do think that many of the fans of the series will get exactly what they are looking for from Anastasia and Christian. Will the non-fans return to the playroom for more romance, infatuation and spanking after this subpar effort?

GRADE: C

Fifty Shades of Grey

R

Stars: Jamie Dornan, Dakota Johnson, Luke Grimes

Director: Sam Taylor-Johnson