Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Unwrapping FIFTY SHADES OF GREY, the movie...

When FIFTY SHADES OF GREY by E.L. James was first released, I paid my ten dollars for the privilege of reading one of the most poorly written romance novels ever. After finishing book one of what I then discovered was to be a trilogy, I swore I would never read another word written by this author.  I can say I have kept that promise.

Now the movie was announced. I immediately thought…holy crap, really? Someone was going to sink a boatload of money into making a terrible book into a movie. Well, I thought…I suppose it can’t be any worse than the book. In fact, it was even possible that it might be better than the book. Wouldn’t that be a first? We all know a book is most certainly always better than any movie created based on that book.

When the movie was setting to release, I watched the trailers. I listened to the hype and some of my friends’ excitement over the coming attractions but couldn’t get excited over the movie having read the book. I decided that after sinking ten dollars into an ebook that I will never ever read again I would never ever pay good money to see the movie, FIFTY SHADES OF GREY. I can say that I never did, and never will.


Okay, anyone who has HBO knows that the movie, FIFTY SHADES OF GREY is playing on that movie network right now. One evening last month, I happened to notice it was on so I clicked on it and, out of pure curiosity, started watching it. I turned it off literally two minutes into the movie. I don’t think I got through the credits.

About two weeks ago, my curiosity got the better of me and I once more started up the movie. I freely admit that I watched the movie, FIFTY SHADES OF GREY. All I can say is…that’s two hours and nine minutes of my life, I will never get back. To say that the book was horrible is an understatement in reference to the movie. The movie was worse!

It was incredibly horrible! It was boring, mundane, and so ridiculous in that it was missing every part of the book that made Christian Grey the creepy, insecure, arrogant, and misogynistic character that he was in the book. The actor playing Grey was unattractive, boring, and weak. The actor portraying Ana Steele couldn’t act her way out of a cardboard box but then again, it really didn’t take much to portray such a weak, inane character as Anastasia Steele anyway.


I cannot understand how anyone can rave over this movie…unless they never read the book, which would lead them to believe that this was a dom/sub relationship at its best. Oh well, at least I didn’t have to hear about Ana’s inner goddess…I also got a lot of work done because it was so boring that I had to do something to keep me awake.

If you saw the movie, I’d love to hear what you thought of it.

Happy Reading (Good Books) Everyone!

4 comments:

Gaele said...

See - I returned FSOG #1 after reading about 8 pages. I DROVE back to the bookstore and got my $ back (this is, to this day - the ONLY book I have ever returned after purchase)

So - why not - ppl are telling me the movie 'is hot'. I'm wondering just what they saw. I thought the acting wooden, the dialogue was awful - and I'll admit that I couldn't wait for it all to end.

What I saw with this was the same issue I have with the Twilight books / film... female's have one hobby - self-obsession (Bella and her mirror were BFFs) the males are spoilt and competitive and neither touches on the realities of the situations they are embroiled in.

Fortunately I had things to do so it wasn't a total waste of the 2 hours... close... but other things were done besides navel gazing as I tried not to doze.

Amy Valentini said...

Ha! Gaele, I'm so glad I'm not the only one who thought both the book and the movie were absolute drivel. Thanks for coming by. xo

Shaney said...

Ladies, I totaly agree. I tried, and I kid you not, reading the first book five times. Eventually I decided to skim read my sisters trilogy books just so that I could join the conversation amongst my friends. That being said, I am a very picky reader and fifty shades felt like it had not been properly researched at all. I am not really into the whole erotica/bdsm scene but I have definitely read some good ones that surpass fifty shades in all departments. I will probably watch all the movies too - I am a sucker for consumerism, but I do not expect to be impressed by the next two any more than the first one....

Amy Valentini said...

Thanks for stopping by, Shaney, and for giving us your thoughts. It is one of those reading bits, the movie as well, that if we don't read/watch, we feel left out.
I have to say though that just as I couldn't bring myself to read any of the other books, I truly will not be watching any subsequent movies. That first one bored me nearly to tears. :-)