Saturday, February 14, 2015

50 Shades of Grey - a review

Caveat: I'm not a reviewer. I believe it's an art form in itself, and I don't have that talent. But I'll do my best, and I'll try not to include spoilers without yelling, "Spoiler Alert!" 

--Valentine's Day, 2015
50 Shades of Grey -- the movie

You have probably noticed when comparing adaptations, the book is almost always better than the movie. Having read all three books in the 50 Shades trilogy I can honestly tell you this holds true for the first book's story.

What story, you ask? The one they cut out completely to make the movie less than five hours long.
I know that cuts have to happen. Believe me, if anyone knows this, I do. I was writing screenplays before I wrote my first novel. 

A movie script is roughly 120 pages long. 1 page equals 1 minute of film time. The paperback is 514 pages long. There was no mention of Anna's job. None whatsoever. If they intend to do the rest of the series (and I hope they do, because the cliffhanger they left it on was oh, so wrong...) they'll have to put that in there right away.  

Without spoilers, here's my review:

What? Oh, no they didn't! Well, the casting is good. How could they leave that out? SPOILER ALERT! Anna forgot to use the safe word!  That was a hugely important detail! It might have taken 1/4 of a page...15 seconds to include that. Sheesh.

Okay, so I loved the books. The movie, not so much. The ending was such a bummer that it knocked the movie right out of the erotic romance genre. Seriously. If all you see is the movie, please don't think that's how it ends. It doesn't. (Who leaves a romance at the black moment? Seriously!)

Okay. That's the end of my review. Or was it just another rant. Yeah, I don't know how to write a review, but I do know how to rant. Oh...and I also know how to write novels, for other people to review.


Such as...Love Cuffs! This quirky BDSM romantic comedy by Dalton Diaz and me was published before the New York book club had ever heard of Christian Grey. Check it out, people!
Love Cuffs at Amazon Love Cuffs at B&N

7 comments:

CarrieMarie said...

i think whenever you go to a movie based on a book - ESPECIALLY if it is a favorite book - you have to look at them as two separate things. they're telling two separate versions of the same story. it's the only way i've found not to go mad. (i did not follow this sound advice when i watched the third HP movie for the first time, and i should have. i really should have. it's my favorite BOOK of the series & my least favorite movie.)

Megan@Riverina Romantics said...

I think that was a pretty decent review Ash. I saw the interview that they did with Glamour and found it weird but it seemed that the woman, Dakota?, would be a good Anastasia. I wasn't as convinced that I would like the way Jamie played Christian.

Hot Ash Romance Novels said...

Good advice, CarrieMarie,
Thanks, Megan <3

Jade Lee said...

I've only read the first book but it ends with her walking out after being spanked. Annoyed me so much that I never picked up the next book. So I assume the movie ends there too. That is the black moment, right?

LaKisha Rivera said...

You are so right, the movie never does the book justice because of the parts they have to cut out to make it 'fit'. Hopefully if all three books are made into movies it will tie it together where us readers will go ahh ok that's better. Good review. It was real workout all the flowery words.

Hot Ash Romance Novels said...

Jade...
Thank you for answering my question... I haven't read the books since they came out, so I had forgotten how the first one ended. I tried to go back and check. I could have sworn I had the trilogy on my nook but couldn't locate book 1 to double check the ending.

So, that WAS the first book's black moment (IMO) Had she wanted an HEA, or happy for now ending, it would have had to go on a bit.

I was glad I had all three books at the ready, because I had to start the next one right away each time.

Hot Ash Romance Novels said...

I had neglected to mention there was a contest. LOL. But I drew a winner for a copy of Love Cuffs and it was CarrieMarie!

So, CarrieMarie, please email me so I can arrange to mail or email your copy.

Congrats! ash@ashlynchase.com