Not as bad as some people are saying

Rating: 3/10 (23 November 2015)

After reading all the one star reviews and trying to read more than a page of the frankly awful book, I was expecting a train-wreck of a movie. It simply has to be rubbish, right?
Not quite. Yes, it has some terribly wooden acting. Jamie Dorman has all the charisma and personality of a sex toy. Apart from the two main leads, every other character is instantly forgettable and two dimensional. The "dippy girl meets billionaire" scenario seems to be a ripoff of Pretty Woman and the spanking is a discount Secretary.
But on the plus side, Dakota Johnson does her best to carry the film with some half decent acting. The movie has managed to make something of the appalling writing of the books. The cinematographer is generally well done. There are one or two reasonably funny moments, especially the boardroom scene.
It's not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination. I won't be recommending it to anyone. But if you like that sort of thing, you'll like this sort of thing.
All in all, not great but not as bad as you might think.