An honest review (from a male perspective)

Rating: 3/10 (22 February 2015)

Now, some disclaimers. I am not one of the people who give movies a 1 that I don't like, or a 10 for ones I like. I have rated very few movies as a 10. And none as a one (in fact, I think this is my lowest rating ever) That being said, I am not the target demographic for this movie but my girlfriend wanted to see it. She enjoyed the book, but isn't a huge fanatical fan about it. So well, we went and saw the movie and even she agrees that it was a piece of junk.
First off, it completely ridicules the BDSM culture. I'm not a "member" per ce, except for some light handcuffs and spanking stuff, but I do know enough from having friends involved in the culture that this film is basically to the BDSM community what tons of other movies have portrayed gays, lesbians, blacks, insert stereotype here in a negative light. It was astoundingly insulting (and in the FAQ here, the reason is answered quite thoroughly) Second, the acting was atrocious. The actors made Keanu Reeves look like an Oscar winner. The script, from what my girl said, was fairly faithful to the book (which I don't know what says it better: that this book is that terrible that the film was faithful, or that the film was faithful to a terrible book?" Third, the pacing , directing, and overall whole movie had the feel of a high school production. There was not a single moment where I had any personal investment into any of the characters and due to the wooden acting I really didn't care about anything that was happening. In short, I watched it and the entire time I just waited for the end.
I cannot believe this movie pulled in 400 million world wide and is still going semi strong. And as I said above, I'm not the target demographic for this movie, being a 40 year old male. However, my girlfriend hated the movie even more than I did (and she's right in the target age group).
Overall, don't waste your time. I give it 3 stars generously. Really, it is a terrible movie. I might actually read the book just to see the comparison, but if like my girlfriend said it is pretty similar to the movie, I don't know if I want to waste my time twice.