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Director: Sam Taylor-Johnson

Cast: Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Jennifer Ehle, Eloise Mumford, Victor Rasuk, Luke Grimes, Marcia Gay Harden, Rita Ora, Callum Keith Rennie, Max Martini

Rating: B

Hollywood is bringing 50 Shades of Grey to the big screen. Based on the wildly popular novel written by British author E.L. James, this movie follows the relationship between a virgin college student and a slick young billionaire as they enter into the erotic world of S & M. The concept ponders the question – “Can one be happy with simply satisfying sexual desire in the most creative ways possible and leave good old fashioned romance on the table?”

Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) stumbles into the office of the mysterious wealthy bachelor, Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan), to conduct and interview for her college newspaper. Looking very out of place in her loose fitting sweater, girlish skirt, and messy bangs the disheveled Anastasia does her best to hide how nervous she is interviewing the handsome Christian Grey. But her constant lip biting gives her instant attraction away and Christian is immediately drawn to the blue-eyed beauty.

The successful young businessman is the perfect catch or so it seems. Although it is never made clear what business he is in, Christian Grey enjoys the high life. He lives in a swanky apartment, wears Italian suits, flies helicopters and private planes, and gets an office with a view, along with money and power. He sets his eyes on his next acquisition… Anastasia Steele. He is on a mission to bring the naïve innocent young student into his world and with plenty of strings (or rather ropes) attached. Once he instinctively knows that Anastasia is about to be his, Christian lays his cards on the table. He explains he is not a flowers and chocolate kind of guy and that his tastes are rather unique. What he wants is for his new love interest to agree to a contractual arrangement, in which she will play the role of his submissive and he will be the dominant. He takes her to his play room where we get to see whips, chains, handcuffs, ropes, and an assortment of all sorts of foreign objects used for the purpose of sexual pleasure. Christian does give Anastasia a clause to opt out of the deal, but her attraction to the most eligible bachelor in town is too hard to resist, so she moves forward. Entering into a world she does not understand, Anastasia sets out on a mission to crack the code and find out what really makes her prince charming tick.

50 Shades of Grey dabbles in trying to be a romantic comedy and a porn movie all in one. There are actually some very entertaining moments with lines delivered by Anastasia as she challenges Christian and pokes fun at him. There is a total of about 15 minutes of nude scenes in the movie with plenty close-up slow moving shots of breast, butts, and wiggling bodies of two perfect human specimens. We know all sorts of things are being used to show off Christian’s fascination with S & M, but we never truly see what he is doing. What could have been shot as gratuitous nude torture scenes are actually very tame in comparison to what you might see on cable television. This is a far cry from the book, which goes into great detail on the sexual encounters.

The supporting cast consisting of Jennifer Ehle, Eloise Mumford, Victor Rasuk, Marcia Gay Harden, Rita Ora and Luke Grimes are very weak given whatever little screen time they are allotted. It feels like their characters were just thrown in so that there would not be too many loopholes in the movie. None of the supporting cast get any meaningful dialogue and it probably would have been okay just to leave them out and spend more time on the two main characters in the film.

The surprises in 50 Shades of Grey are the two lead actors. Capturing the emotion of the non-smiling prosperous Christian Grey was not an easy task given that the character is supposed to be cold and unemotional. Jamie Dornan is actually able to breathe life into the lines he is given and makes his character more intriguing as the film progresses. What could have been a completely flat performance from the steely blue-eyed actor is portrayed as a person carrying issues from his past, and not even realizing that he has struggles to overcome in order to be emotionally healthy. We get to see the tables turn as Christian, who refuses to have a normal dating life, finds himself actually falling for his submissive.

Even more amazing is Dakota Johnson as the shy and demur Anastasia. The actress is able to capture her characters wide-eyed curiosity at being the object of a sophisticated bad boy’s affections. The savvy Johnson shows off how her character is both intimated and intrigued by her suitor as well as showing the she is still very headstrong, independent, and her own person… despite someone trying to control her. The camera stays on our leading lady’s face for much of the film, and it is through the close ups that you can see the changes in emotions as she shows the struggle Anastasia goes through trying to please her lover, versus trying to understand him and make him aware that there is a better way for two people to interact. Whether she is crying, smiling, or arguing, the camera loves Dakota Johnson and it is her face that draws you deeper into the film.

This twist on a boy-likes-girl story is more about two people striving to understand each other than about sexual fetishes. There is a great deal of intensity between Anastasia and Christian as both debate back and forth on life style challenges. The main weakness in the film is it just falls short of being totally convincing due to some sappy dialogue thrown into the movie. Although many of the lines may have come directly from the book, the script could have been polished up to make the conversations stronger and more believable.

50 Shades of Grey will not go down in history as one of the best made romantic films in Hollywood. Will this be a movie for fun or punishment? That will be for those watching to decide. The production, which stays fairly on point with the book, has just enough romantic excitement that will tantalize many moviegoers (especially fans of the books) and have them clamoring for more. This film, much like an overly-dramatic romance novel, will be a guilty pleasure to enjoy for an afternoon delight, and will make many wonder “should we try something new?”

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