Fifty Shades of Grey - Movie Review

"When Anastasia Steele, a literature student, goes to interview the wealthy Christian Grey, as a favor to her roommate Kate Kavanagh, she encounters a beautiful, brilliant and intimidating man. The innocent and naive Ana started to realize she wants him, despite his enigmatic reserve and advice, she finds herself desperate to get close to him. Not able to resist Ana's beauty and independent spirit, Christian Grey admits he wants her too, but in his own terms. Ana hesitates as she discovers the singular tastes of Christian Grey - despite the embellishments of success, his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his loving family - Grey is consumed by the need to control everything" - Written by Mischa LeCroix

Rated R  - barely.  This is not for the under 18 crowd.  

The first few scenes of Fifty Shades of Grey are almost identical to Twilight.  Socially awkward girl drives a clunky car.  Hunky "BFF" catchs up with her in the school parking lot.  Mysterious Hot New Guy comes to her defense when another man gets too aggressive.  Mysterious Hot New Guy shows up in the most random of places.  

Full disclosure. I loved Twilight.  Loved it.  40+ year old grandmother here - I can't explain it.  So when I heard about E.L. James writing "Twilight for Adults" aka Fifty Shades of Grey - I was excited.  The trilogy hits the shelves.  Pure fantasy - damsel in distress - handsome billionaire - girl sits back and enjoys the ride.  No pun intended. I loved them.  LOVED THEM.  Thousands of women everywhere LOVED them.  

Then came the news they were bringing Christian Grey to the big screen.  Never have I anticipated a movie more than this one.  My friends and I put together Pinterest boards of actors who should be tapped to play Christian.  

Fast forward to Valentines Day weekend 2015 and the first movie drops.  I fully expected the movie to be a big fat disappointment.  What made it even worse - it came on the heels of awards season.  All the screenings I have been doing have been BIG movies - award  winning movies.  So I went into this completely expecting it to bomb.  But then it didn't.  I liked it - I really liked it!  And I wasn't the only one.  There was applause at the final scene.  

What is it about this movie? For one thing, I really liked how much the movie followed the book.  No big changes.  The casting for this movie was also SPOT ON.   Dakota Johnson IS Anastasia Steele. While Jamie Dornan never showed up on my Pinterest boards as Christian, when he walked onto the screen it made sense.  He is our man.

But the real attraction for me is simple.  You see,  I am a control freak.  I take care of everything.  I plan every meal - every date - what and where and how we do everything.  Did I say I liked being a control freak?  No, I don't.  It's just who I am and how I have evolved.  So for me - the attraction to this movie was the idea of a billionaire man sweeping into a girls life and taking care of her every want and need - whether  or not she even knows what those wants and needs are.

Please understand a few things.   
If you didn't read the book - this movie is not for you.  
If you dislike nudity and sex in movies - this movie is not for you.  
If you find this movie (even before seeing it) offensive & degrading to women, I completely respect that.  Just because I like Breaking Bad doesn't mean I cook meth.  If you know what I mean.

Do I think this is one of the best movies of all time?  Absolutely not.  But the movie did what it set out to do - it brought a fantasy on the page to life on the big screen, without completely screwing it up.

I know I will catch flack from other critics for liking this one, but that's ok.  I hated Under The Skin and lots of critics LOVED it.  That's what I love about movies.  There's something for all of us.