Fifty Shades of Grey
Fifty Shades of Grey
Literature student Anastasia Steele's life changes forever when she meets handsome, yet tormented, billionaire Christian Grey.
Razorbitz reviewedApril 12, 2025
Neither titilating nor particularly taboo-breaking, the first Fifty Shades feels more like an unintentional comedy held aloft by the mutual incompetence of the lead actors doing their best to generate chemistry where there is none. Even the uncut, "uncensored" version provides sex scenes that only a puritan would find shocking. Goofy doesn't even begin to describe the "dominant" Christian Grey, who steals the scenes in all the wrong ways. Never have I seen a romantic lead with less charisma or allure, whos command of the screen can be likened more to an autistic teenager who discovered the gym and learned all there is to know about women from porn.
For what its worth, the soundtrack is great, and the share of laughs and baffling moments make this better than the worst romance I've ever seen. Cinematography has its stand out shots wasted on Fifty Shades of Grey, but it is in the expert camera work that the sexually aggressive biting of toast and hammy line delivery--and the otherwise mundane intercourse--that make the film a tolerable and on times entertaining watch. It's never much better than the cheapest smut Cinemax used to produce, but as a classy delivery of the world's most famous fan fiction it's hard not to respect the flourishes found throughout despite everything else.