50 shades of another four letter word starting with 'sh'

Rating: 1/10 (13 February 2015)

"Lifestyles of the Rich and Perverse" might be a more fitting title for the unusually explicit bedroom drama.
This adaptation of a trilogy of novels by E.L. James -- which features a modern-day Marquis de Sade as its male protagonist -- has a pornographically narrow focus and a potentially dangerous message.
James, whose real name is Erika Mitchell, has apparently captured the imaginations of bored housewives everywhere by tracing the unlikely romance between socially awkward college student Anastasia and intimidating business tycoon Christian Grey.
The popularity -- and notoriety -- of James' fiction is such that moviegoers know from the outset that the stumbling block tripping these two up, as they attempt to tango, will be Christian's fondness for whips and chains. Thus the duo's first interaction -- which comes about when Ana agrees to fill in for her ailing roommate Kate, a journalism major, by interviewing Christian for the campus newspaper -- is loaded down with dramatic irony.
All Ana knows is that Christian has been tapped to deliver the commencement address at her pending graduation. But we're on to this dungeon-loving Bruce Wayne's real identity. So his sly double entendres are ever so much fun.
In between the zingers, Ana and Christian fall for each other. Yet, as Ana tries to bond with her aloof new beau, she's perplexed by his total lack of hearts-and-flowers romanticism. Until, that is, she discovers that he's an obsessive sadist with an elaborately equipped "playroom" full of pain-inducing gadgets and restraints.
Though it's framed in the familiar context of a good girl's crusade to redeem a naughty boy, Ana's eventual cooperation with Christian's perversion, risks conveying the idea that all women are potentially willing victims of physical abuse and humiliation. We're also left to wonder what role Christian's helicopter and fancy penthouse pad play in rendering Ana so tractable.
While responsible viewers might sympathize with Christian's troubled background, both in childhood and beyond, as well as with his passing acknowledgement of the harmful nature of his proclivities, the intent to stir audiences by teasing a supposed taboo is unmistakable.
Sadly, but essentially (at the risk of repeating) this 'fantasy' promotes all the worst things (mostly violence) on the "person" (esp women): ie: stalk, do harm (physically n psychologically), prostitute (money), pornography upon women .. and bring down the dignity of men anyway that's my piece... the movie is -10, but the chart doesn't have that option :-)