For '50 Shades of Grey' BDSM Means Boring Dumb Sexy Magic

So the big news this week was that 50 Shades of Grey's box office totals went down 70% in its 2nd weekend. This isn't that surprising. This movie represents the kind of fad that's a fad until it isn't. The speculation was high before its release and pop culture enthusiasts were curious about what it would be like. I think the problem was that the speculation was more fun than the actual movie.

But I went to see the movie and to be honest, it wasn't that bad. No, it's nowhere near a good movie but you could tell that they tried or wanted to try. I just don't think the material they had to work with was strong enough to support a mainstream film. It's the age old question: if good books can make bad movies, can bad books make good movies?

50 Shades is directed by Sam (short for Samantha) Taylor-Johnson and stars Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan, two relatively untested movie stars. The film is scripted by Kelly Martel, best known for her script Saving Mr. Banks from 2013. Of course the novel was by E.L. James and we all know it started off as Twilight fan fiction.

The thing is, I like the idea of a woman becoming involved with a man who just happens to be into domination/submission type stuff. I like the idea of her deciding to try it and liking it and a love story that plays out with this backdrop. Considering how puritanical America can be (especially at the cinema), a BDSM love story would be radically progressive and cool. But 50 Shades just isn't the movie I wanted it to be. The movie I wanted is buried deep inside the film and I wish it had been made independent of the book series.

If there's one thing I want to genuinely praise, it is the performance of Dakota Johnson as Anastasia Steele. I can't tell you how the character is in the book but Johnson's Ana is funny and charming; she has an actual character arc going from meek shy girl to confident lady. She has conviction in her performance and she actually tries and succeeds to make a real person out of her character.

Her co-star Jamie Dornan is fine as Christian Grey. He is good-looking enough for the part but I don't think he has that X factor sex appeal to make the character work. There are some "sexy" moments that I don't think work as well because Dornan has little sex charisma.

The film has a sleek look to it; Taylor-Johnson makes the film look as clinical and professional as possible so that the scenes in the Play Room (ugh) look passionate and warm in comparison.  It sort of works. Taylor-Johnson makes an effort to direct the film with intelligence and style. I have to commend her as a director; given a story that is both progressive but inherently conservative, she balances out the melodrama and the humor as best she can. Aside from Dakota Johnson, I have to praise Taylor-Johnson. She had an almost impossible task of bringing a ridiculed story to the big screen and come out of it with her dignity in tact. Considering how rare it is for women to direct mainstream blockbusters, I can only hope that her work will get noticed.

But I'm not so sure the film works as a whole. Is it sexy? I guess but it's more sexy when it's not trying to be. And Dakota Johnson's performance is (I hope) a star in the making. Unfortunately, there's a chance that the "stigma" around the film might hinder progress to better films.

But let's toss aside the debate about this film's presentation of BDSM relationships. Let's keep aside any sort of feminist debate (I don't want to go there, it's a minefield). The biggest problem I have with  this movie is that it is boring. And dull. At over 2 hours, the movie drags, keeping the fun stuff (like Play Room dynamics) to a minimum and the dumb stuff ("Christian, let me love you!!!") to a maximum. Look, I love a good romantic melodrama. This is not it. It's cliched, high school stuff with no depth or insight.

Even the foray into domination/submission doesn't lead to any interesting character development. The focus is largely on Christian's interest in his extracurricular. To be honest, I was more into Ana's. Here's a shy young woman who suddenly finds BDSM pleasurable and I want to know more about how she feels about it. Instead, the film takes forever to even get to it and then abruptly becomes about Christian and Ana becoming actual boyfriend/girlfriend.

The film is best viewed with people who are willing to enjoy a good bad movie. 50 Shades of Grey does manage to be ironically funny in some places, which is to its benefit to be honest. I can't speak for all people but I think the majority of the audience for this movie is in it for its campy value. Taylor-Johnson and Johnson manage to weave magic out of the film as much they can. But I honestly don't think it'll make much a difference. They can't escape the bad rep this book series get. I have to reiterate my wish that these people could have made a story like this without the baggage of being a "50 Shades of Grey adaptation."

I can't say I didn't enjoy 50 Shades of Grey. It can be pretty funny at times and like I said, Dakota Johnson is pretty cool. But at the end of the day, it gets bogged down by faithfulness to the novel (I use that term lightly). The sequels are coming. And I have a feeling they're not going to spin off into interesting directions because word on the street is author E.L. James (I use that term lightly) is controlling how the films are going. But the film has made $413 million dollars worldwide off a $40 million dollar budget. That's huge for an R-rated erotic romance directed by a woman and marketed to women. So the film is a success and a non-success. I like that it's so successful because it means Hollywood can take note of its large female audience. I just wish the large female audience had a better film to hitch their wagon to.

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