Fifty Shades of Grey (2015)

The film makes a pact with its audience to deliver escapist pleasure as a genuinely sexy yet somewhat silly and relatively timid romantic drama. It pushes the envelope on explicitness in a major studio release while remaining chaste and sanitized.

The adaptation is neither a boundary-pushing female Shame nor the golden turkey some hoped for, but a singular phenomenon and romantic fantasy of sexual awakening aimed at a female audience. Dakota Johnson is terrific as the reluctant, questioning Ana.

The film is a well-cast conversation starter that is by turns provocative and romance-novel gooey. It benefits from strong lead performances that give dimension to the characters while balancing atmosphere with action in the sex scenes.

A watered-down, hopelessly softcore adaptation that fails to match the books' titillation but works thanks to the director's finesse in navigating prudishness and framing the tepid scenes with a sensitive story of self-discovery.

The film is neither so terrible as to be laughable nor so brilliant as to be powerful, delivering a sparky first third before bogging down in repetitive romantic drama and antiseptic kink. Dakota Johnson brings strength and humour, giving the movie more colour than it deserves.

The adaptation is a wildly confused treatment of sex and power dynamics, much like the source novel. The film is competent in acting and photography but ultimately muddled and anti-romantic.

Taylor-Johnson has eliminated most of the book's worst writing and turned the material into well-shot pictures that improve on the source, with discreet and creative sex scenes. The dialogue remains dire and the film is middle-of-the-road, though it renders the rubbish much less ridiculous than expected.

An antiseptic adaptation that reduces the pop-culture phenomenon to a straightforward soap-opera romance beneath its bondage shackles. The kinkiness is tame, the nudity softcore, and the S&M more M&S than edgily erotic.

The film is better than the book due to its competence but remains gray with good taste and muted naughtiness within R-rating limits. It is unromantic and anti-romantic, focusing more on luxury and contracts than genuine eroticism.

The film is a prim, tasteful and softcore take on sadomasochism that fails to deliver on its erotic promise, resulting in something more comedic than sensual. The critic highlights the absence of any explicit male nudity and the overly contractual, mainstream approach to the material.

The film adaptation turns out to be anti-climactic on almost every level and fails to deliver as either a guilty treat or a romantic drama. Sam Taylor-Johnson puts no personal stamp on the material, resulting in flimsy characterisation and cartoonish leads.

The adaptation improves on the source novel with witty and sharp scenes. Director Sam Taylor-Johnson brings style and strong filmmaking skills to the story.

The adaptation is elegant and striking as a romantic drama with smart dialogue and appealing leads, but fails as erotica due to coy sex scenes and adherence to the source material's flaws; praises the chemistry and humor.

The film is nonsensical and absurd but good fun if approached with an open mind. Dakota Johnson steals the show as the relatable Ana, while the repetitive structure of sex and arguments creates tedium.

The stylish film is a mostly satisfying adaptation that will leave fans content despite some missteps. It skillfully distills the book while capturing the thrill of fixation, though it is essentially porn without plot.

Fifty Shades is a romcom without much comedy and an old-fashioned soft porn flick. It features some very nice sensual sex scenes but is otherwise an ordinary tale that benefits from an unlimited budget for its fantasy elements.

The critic finds the film tame and inoffensive in its depiction of kink, criticizing the bland direction and weak male lead performance. Praises Dakota Johnson's performance as the saving grace.

The critic finds the film surprisingly conventional and earnest in its romance despite the BDSM elements, praising the chemistry between leads Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan but noting it feels like limp Valentine's Day role-play.