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50 Shades will leave you gasping . . . with laughter

Howls of laughter exploded at regular intervals during the Perth preview of the big-screen version of the bondage-porn pop-lit phenomenon about virginal student lured into the twisted world of an Adonis-like billionaire who is by his own admission “fifty shades of f***ed up.”

They snickered when Christian Grey first meets Anastasia Steele and tells her “he exercises control in all things” (nudge, nudge); they chuckled when Christian turns up at the local version of Bunnings where Anastasia works (they knew he didn’t have home renovation on his mind); and instead of gasping when Anastasia finally enters Christian’s notorious “play room” they guffawed (she assumes it’s where he keeps his X-Box).

Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey. Picture: Supplied
Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey. Picture: Supplied

Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey. Picture: Supplied

No doubt the legion of Fifty Shades haters want me to report that the first-nighters were laughing at how awful is the year’s most anticipated movie.

But it was laughter of a joyous kind, with the mainly female audience delighting to see E.L. James’s characters finally come to life on the big screen after so much foreplay and, more crucially, because the very canny director Sam Taylor-Johnson and her screenwriter Kelly Marcel tease out the comedy hinted at by James.

Dakota Johnson as Anastasia Steele.
Dakota Johnson as Anastasia Steele.

Dakota Johnson as Anastasia Steele.

The scene in which Christian and Anastasia sit at either end of a board room table and negotiate the contract for their dominant/submissive relationship is pure screwball comedy, a wonderful playful battle-of-the-sexes moment in which the delight the pair have in each other’s company undercuts the shocking nature of what is being discussed.

Many will prefer the movie to the book because what has been removed is Anastasia’s internal mononologue, a mind-numbingingly repetitive soliloquy in which the same words are repeated ad nauseum.

While Anastasia’s “inner goddess” has been silenced it has the unfortunate effect of stripping away what little psychological complexity there is to Fifty Shades of Grey, with two actors struggling to take us beyond the sleek, seductive surface created by Taylor-Johnson. It’s Christian’s other toys, such as his cars and helicopter, that are the real turn on.

Read Mark Naglazas' full review with star rating in The West Australian tomorrow.