My review of 50 Shades

Well, I saw it tonight. The myth, the legend, Fifty Shades of Grey, in where the question is asked: can a nice young girl find happiness with a psychopath who likes to tie her up? Dakota Johnson, the grown daughter of Miami Vice's Don Johnson, plays Anastasia Steele, a trembling young virginal wallflower who gets the attention of Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan), a billionaire who's into the kinky stuff.

Johnson is easily the best thing about this whole film. She has a pleasant, sweet quality that comes across very well. The movie itself is very silly; the bulk of the scenes consist of Ana playing 'will she or won't she?' with a guy who's got more money than God and wants her to be his playmate. There's even an extended scene where they're hashing out the terms of their relationship through a written contract.

The movie makers make the mistake of thinking people care more about the characters, when it was really the racy sex scenes that made the Grey books bestsellers. I found myself fast forwarding through a lot of the movie just to get to the good stuff. And the filmmakers, to their credit, don't hold back--Johnson has full frontal nudity in her scenes where she's tied up.

I haven't read the books, but I'm not fond of the movie's view that there's something wrong with people who like bondage and S&M (for one thing, many of us bondage fans, like me, just enjoy the bondage, not the S&M). The whole master/sub relationship between Ana and Grey has been sensationalized to amp up the drama; it should not be taken as an example of the lifestyle. Still, despite the overall silliness, the bondage scenes themselves are decent. No gags are involved; Johnson is blindfolded twice, and she's always naked. It's not a favorite movie of mine, but the scenes make it a keeper for me.