Friday, February 20, 2015

Movie Review Madness: Fifty Shades of Grey


Fifty Shades of Grey is now out in the theaters and it’s quite an R movie. I’ve also seen reviews calling it Fifty Shades of Boring. I wouldn’t go that far. The first book in the trilogy by E.L.James was horribly written. I read it out of curiousity and figured the movie had to be better. It stars Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey – a fine specimen of a man. Dakota Johnson (daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith) plays Anastasia Steele. She’s a pretty girl, but a bit stiff – hopefully she can buy some acting lessons with her paycheck.
 
A brief premise. Christian Grey is the billionaire young man in Seattle who lives in fabulous locations, flies his own helicopter, has tons of cars, is great looking, can play the piano, etc – the full composite of any fantasy. (Remember this is a movie, folks. Yes in real life we want the guy who can change the oil in the car, can grill a steak, and picks his clothes off the floor) However, Christian has “issues”. Eh, nobody’s perfect. He was born to a crack addict prostitute and treated badly until he was adopted at age four by the Greys. His issues manifest themselves in his naughty playroom for nighttime activity. We shall be circumspect in our descriptions for this review.  

Anastasia is a new college graduate and a virginal beauty in her prime, with no idea of her allure. Christian wants her, but there are contracts to be signed. Ana learns about this whole new world, and questions it. There has been a big uproar for the books and the movie from folks protesting on behalf of women. I can see some points, but Ana is a consenting adult and has choices. She can and does say no at different plot points. 

All in all, not a lot really happens in Fifty Shades and some stuff is giggle worthy. The movie is better than the book, but just watch with low expectations. This is a filler movie for February. The trailer they showed late last year was HOT, and the soundtrack is actually rather good – it opens with Annie Lennox singing “I Put a Spell on You”.  
 
It’s February - the sky outside is fifty shades of bleak. You can warm up in a movie theater and kill two hours with pretty people and great skyline shots of Seattle, or start working on your taxes.

 

6 comments:

  1. I never read the books, but from what I've heard, the writing in your post is a heckuva lot better than what's found in those books.

    Still, my hubby and I have been thinking about going to see the movie, so I'm glad you wrote a review on it. We figure we can go on senior discount day, which in itself, kinda cracks me up. I can just picture it now: a bunch of old farts and fartessas wearing dark glasses and wigs so no one recognizes them when they sneak into the theater. We'll fit right in.

    Happy weekend!

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  2. You're more than fair, Joanne. I laughed about the acting lessons. She does look stiff. She plays someone with no personality, so she's well casted, it seems. I will neither do my taxes nor watch this movie. (Thankfully, it's clear skies here.) Thank you for reviewing it for us, though.

    Have a nice weekend, Joanne.

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  3. PS It's "cast" not "casted" - right? Oops.=)

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  4. I got the skinny on it from my daughter, I'll pass. Proves the premise, I suppose, that sex sells.

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  5. LOL...I pick taxes...even though I don't actually have to do them thanks to HiHoney and Turbo Tax. If I were to be realistic I would rather pick 50 Shades of Grey Fabrics.
    Sue at CollectInTexas Gal

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  6. I'm going to pass on this one. I don't think it is my cup of tea.

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