This afternoon, three friends and I ventured out into the arctic tundra to warm up with "Fifty Shades of Grey." After fighting our way into parking spots, we shared a delicious meal at Earls at Assembly Row before heading into the movie.
One thing about Earls before I continue, is it just me or do they have the most incompetent staff in history? They have four to six hostesses and none of them greet you or help you. The waitresses disappear for thirty minutes at a time, and often orders are misplaced or not placed at all. It's so frustrating because the place is actually super fun and has great grub. Anyway, I digress.
Before I go on about my thoughts on the movie, SPOILER ALERT! Please do not read on if you do not want to know any specifics about the movie. I am going to give away pieces of the plot and share my opinion on particular scenes. I don't want to ruin the movie for you, so pretty please, if you don't want to know anything, stop now.
Let me begin by saying, I have not read the "Fifty Shades of Grey" books. I had nothing to compare this to, or any idea how the story would unfold (if there even was a story).
Dakota Johnson plays the lead character, Anastasia Steele. For those who don't know, Dakota is celebrity spawn. Her parents are Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson. Personally, I had never seen her in a movie before, but my first impression is that she is very beautiful. One of the girls with me said she reminded her a bit of Alexis Bledel (Rory Gilmore from "Gilmore Girls). There's no question that Dakota's most prominent feature is her piercing blue eyes.
As the Anastasia, she was a mix of timid, curious and confident. She had a bewitching power over the usually stoic Christian Grey.
Mr. Grey is played by Jamie Dornan, again, someone I wasn't familiar with before this movie. He easily inhabits the uptight, rigid body of Christian Grey and boy can he wear a suit. Despite the handsome suits, I felt he spent most of the movie with his shirt off or completely naked.
I didn't read the book, so I wasn't sure what to expect from the infamous red room, but they showed way less than I thought they would, and to be honest, I was a bit relieved.
I had two favorite scenes in the film, neither of which involved undressing. The first, when Anastasia asks for a business meeting to review the proposed contract. I love the two of them sitting at opposite ends of the table, flirting without being able to touch each other. The lighting in that scene was also very interesting. It looked like the sun was setting inside the conference room.
My very most favorite scene is when Christian surprises Anastasia during her trip to Savannah. He rents a two seater plane and takes her on a joy ride over the city. I mean. Come. On. True confession: I teared up a little bit during that part, thinking about how badly I'd like someone to do something that incredible for me.
Now we come to the ending, and again MAJOR SPOILER ALERT.
I could not believe that the final scene is Anastasia walking out on Christian! I was furious! I turned to my friend and said, "That's it? That's how it ends?" To which she smiled and replied, "I probably should have warned you it doesn't end happily, huh?"
Let me tell you, there better be movies for the second and third books, because I have to know what happens! Do they get back together? Do we ever find out where those scars came from on Christian's chest? Does Anastasia ever get a job? Are Christian, Anastasia, Kate and Elliot going to have a double wedding? Kidding on that last one.
Tell me, did you see the movie? What did you think? Had you read the book?
