A Romantic Comedy with dark undertones and eroticism. Takes Out All the BS/WTF and Fan Fiction elements from the Book

Rating: 6/10 (9 February 2015)

For those who may not be aware, Fifty Shades of Grey was once an erotic Twilight fan fiction that was pulled and published, becoming a massive global hit with over 100 million copies sold. As there are many lovers and fans of the book series, there's a great amount of "haters" or harsh critics of the books.
After the movie ended I was completely stunned, as in my jaw dropped. The reason- I liked this movie, more than I thought I would, a great deal more. I really thought I would dislike it and find so many faults, much like the book. If you're a fan of the Fifty Shades of Grey book, you will eat up this movie and love it, hungry for more. If you haven't read Fifty Shades of Grey, you will enjoy the movie for what it is and will be anxious to see Fifty Shades Darker, the sequel, which was announced as moving forward. Fifty Shades of Grey was very entertaining, with many moments of humor and a romance that should appeal to both men and women. It's a perfect date movie, including one for Valentine's Day. Those who are looking for more spice in their movies, Fifty Shades of Grey is the movie to see. The love scenes are well choreographed and sexy. When the time comes for the BDSM scenes, they are extremely well done and very erotic.
Every cheesy WTF moment found in the book with the silly, ridiculous sayings and fan fiction element was erased. The filmmakers made the right decision by taking out the eye rolling trademark phrases and like the "oh my's" and "inner goddess" Anastasia Steele, the heroine loves to spew. Christian Grey, her hero's trademark line, "later's baby" is there, but the delivery of how it was spoken is cute and sweet. Christian's twitchy palms is also in there, and again delivered in a great way. The love scenes and scenes of sexual bondage, torture and foreplay are tasteful and somewhat artistic in tone. The manic, abusive elements Christian portrays in the book are gone. His possessive is toned down enough in the movie that it's believable. His reason he doesn't do romance and needs to be a Dominant, and Ana his submissive isn't far-fetched when it's revealed and explained.
The credit for making Fifty Shades of Grey movie a success are because of four people. Screenwriter, Kelly Marcel, and director, Sam Taylor Johnson deserve major kudos for their work. These two brought Fifty Shades of Grey to life in a way I would have never expected and admired. These two are just important as the actors on screen. The focus is on Ana and Christian, the main couple. All the other characters come and go and rarely have much screen time. Kate Kavanagh, Ana's best friend and roommate played by Eloise Mumford made the most with her role. She ate up the screen anytime she appeared. If given more screen time, she would have been a force of nature.
There have been many opinions about the casting of Ana and Christian. From the press tour and random scenes shown from the movie of Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan, it looks like they're all wrong for the roles. Awkward and bad chemistry comes to mind. I'm a happy to say that Dakota and Jamie's chemistry is alive and well in the movie. Jamie Dornan is the one everyone has concentrated on. He plays the role of Christian more than adequately, but there's still a stiffness and remoteness to his portrayal. I'm not sure if this was intentional, but even though I wasn't as enthralled with him as I should, I will say that when it came to the love scenes and BDSM centric action, he made me believe he was a true Dominant. His delivery, whether it was seducing Ana or blindfolding and tying her up and flogging her was, panty dropping, I need to take a cold shower ASAP. This man let loose and wild, no holds barred sexual takeover in the sex scenes.
The one person who deserves more praise than anyone else is Dakota Johnson. Jamie plays second fiddle to her. I had some concerns with her in the beginning. The first twenty minutes are the most problematic. It sets up the story and the introduction of Ana, the college English literature senior, about to graduate, and Christian, the twenty-seven elusive billionaire. Dakota was channeling Kristen Stewart ala Bella Swan from Twilight in the first fifteen minutes, complete with being clumsy and falling to the floor in Christian's office, to the non-stop lip biting. But the lip-biting is a running joke, throughout the movie, but one that fits. The moment I become invested in this movie, and knew it was a winner was the scene where Dakota as Ana gets drunk and drunks dials Christian. That five minute scene shows Dakota's comedic skills, which is throughout the movie. She starts out as this almost fragile, plain and basic young woman, who transforms into a more self-assured saucy, tells it like she means it woman. I would go as far to say she steals some of the scenes away from Jamie. Dakota as Ana keeps her girl next door package, but also brings out her temptress. Simply put, Dakota owns the Ana role and runs with it.
Fifty Shades of Grey is a Rom-Com with dark undertones. The first half appears to be a romantic comedy and then slowly becomes more intense and serious. The humor isn't out of place, and when we get to that point where Christian shows Ana his red room of pain, as she calls it, you're invested completely, wanting to stay with Ana and Christian, even during their most private intimate moments, no matter how dark they may seem.