Fifty Shades of Grey Didn't Suck!

I’m not proud of it, but I’ll admit I read the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy. Although if I’m being completely honest, I did more than just casually read the books; instead I devoured each book one by one until I was done. As many of you can attest, it wasn’t the literary genius of E.L. James that drew me, suckered me, into the erotic books, but the story of something I knew nothing about. I read the books, tucked them away, and hadn’t thought of them much until I heard they were making the trilogy into three separate movies. Honestly, I was ready to write a negative review of the movie before it even began production. In my mind, there was no way to re-create the filthy excitement that I had read in an R-Rated movie. Much to my surprise, I saw the movie, and I’m here to tell you…Fifty Shades of Grey Didn’t Suck.

My sister, like me, also read the filthy novels and was curious to see how it was adapted for the big screen. Although I poked fun at her for wanting to see the flick, I let her willingly drag me to the theater to see it with her. We also brought our husbands, who have been best friends for the majority of their lives, to the movie with us. Honestly, I think the only reason they agreed to go was because there was a 99.9% chance there would be some type of nudity, and they weren’t disappointed.

When I learned that Dakota Johnson was cast as Anastasia Steele, the first thing I did was look up who in the heck Dakota Johnson was. I was surprised to find out that she is the offspring of the talented Melanie Griffiths and Don Johnson. I was equally surprised to find out that I had seen her before in 21 Jump Street, although it was a much smaller role. At first, I felt Dakota Johnson was too pretty to play Anastasia Steele. Even when the movie started, I wasn’t sold on the casting. However, I’ll be the first to admit that Johnson did a good job in her role as Anastasia; it just takes a good 20 minutes into the film to truly buy it.

Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey was also all wrong for me! I admit I’m a bit jaded because I’m head over heels in love with Charlie Hunnam, who was originally cast as the dashing, yet controlling, Mr. Grey, but despite my imaginary love affair with Charlie, Jamie didn’t fit the role for me. He was okay in the film, but I didn’t love it. Also, under no circumstances should Jamie Dornan say “Laters, Baby.” It was one of my favorite parts of the book, but it didn’t portray well on film. In fact, it was so bad, it made me giggle a little.

It’s been rumored that Jamie Dornan may quit the Fifty Shades of Grey sequels because his wife doesn’t want him to do it. I can’t blame her, I wouldn’t want my husband doing those things also – I don’t care how much he gets paid. While I think that the audience for this film trilogy has accepted Dakota Johnson as Anna, I don’t think the same can be said for Dornan. In the search for a new Mr. Christian Grey, I hope that they find an actor that is:

• Tall
• Slim
• Muscular, but not hulky,
• Extremely handsome
• Down to get naked

While I’m a firm believer that the books are always better than the movies, I will admit that this movie doesn’t totally suck! It’s not fantastic by any means, but it certainly doesn’t deserve all of the negative attention it has received. The storyline of the movie follows the book closely and the sex scenes are tasteful while staying true to the erotic nature of the books.

With Dornan’s unwillingness to complete the next two sequels, it goes to wonder whether the sequels will be better or worse than the original. I’ll be interested to see how the directors handle a sequel without the original Christian Grey and whether they can learn from their mistakes in the first to make the sequels more of what readers of the trilogy expect.

I'm not sure whether I'm happy or sad about it, but it looks like Jamie Dornan will return to the franchise as Christian Grey for the sequel. Hopefully the 2nd movie is a little less awkward than the first.