Few properties in recent times have been subject to more discussion than 50 Shades of Grey. Since the release of the first book in 2011, it has been the target of tremendous outrage, scorn and ridicule. I read the first book in 2012 and while I hated the content, I loved making fun of it with my friends. The book is weirdly enjoyable in how awful it is and I was hoping the film would at least give me that same feeling. Unfortunately, it did not meet my low expectations.
50 Shades of Grey tells the story of college student Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson), who, filling in for a sick friend, interviews mysterious billionaire Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan). They are immediately enamored with each other and begin a sexual relationship in which he introduces her to his secret world of bondage, dominance and submission.
That is basically where the plot ends and the movie then alternates between sex and scenes in which Christian badgers Anastasia into becoming his submissive. That’s also when the movie falls apart, because it becomes clear the two leads have no chemistry.
It’s not for a lack of trying. Dakota Johnson is genuinely winning as Anastasia and she gives the character a spirit that was missing from the page. She also lends honesty to the sex scenes, giving them a thread of eroticism the film desperately needed. The director (Sam Taylor-Johnson) also does her best during these scenes by focusing on Johnson’s face and quivering body parts. It almost works, but fails because Christian Grey himself is a certified dud.
Jamie Dornan is handsome but boyish. He seems visibly uncomfortable in the role and that gives his scenes with Anastasia an awkwardness that punctures the little sexual tension they manage to create. The only aspect of Christian Grey that Dornan seems capable of playing is the character’s menace.
There’s been much discussion over whether the book romanticizes abuse, and while the film tones down some of the book’s seedier elements, it still doesn’t do enough to temper the fact that Christian Grey is a stalker and a creep. His actions in the final sequence are legitimately upsetting; I left the film hoping Anastasia stays away from him instead of wishing for them to be together.
50 Shades of Grey is bad film with a bad message, but its ultimate sin is that it’s boring. I went in hoping for a fun time and what I got was a film about sex that feels like a chore.
