People love somewhat arbitrary movie marathon traditions, like watching the extended editions of the Lord of the Rings trilogy in the lead-up to New Year’s Eve, and now there’s a new one that’s absolutely about to catch on: watching the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy (including Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed, three titles that definitely make sense) on the first weekend of October. Why? Because they all just landed on Netflix, and there’s no better way to celebrate the beginning of cuffing season than… well, you know what the movies are about. It’s easier than trying to find a real person to settle down with for the winter months, at least.
The Fifty Shades movies are based on the series of novels by E.L. James, with Sam Taylor-Johnson (director of Nowhere Boy) directing the first one before handing the other two off to Glengarry Glen Ross director James Foley (Fifty Shades Freed was his final film before his death). The whole trilogy was panned by critics and fans of the books (it’s pretty damning that, according to Rotten Tomatoes, audiences only kind of liked them more than professional reviewers, rather than stubbornly insisting they’re good), but the franchise was enormously successful financially and made over $1 billion. And whether your ticket money contributed to that total or you’ve never been introduced to Mr. Grey, it’s the perfect time to start your new annual tradition by watching all three on Netflix.
Are the ‘Fifty Shades’ Movies Secretly Good?
A lot of movies are cultural touchstones, whether you actually care about them or not. If you want to be a contributing member of society, you should probably know something about Harry Potter, Star Wars, and The Avengers. These days, Fifty Shades doesn’t demand the amount of attention those do, but there was a period between the release of the first book and the last movie when the franchise was genuinely important. Even if it’s cheesy, or not as sexy as promised, or particularly frustrating to the actual BDSM community, there’s some value in simply engaging with a thing that carries some cultural weight.
For people who don’t know, the saga follows Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) as she catches the eye of Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan), a billionaire who wants her to enter into a sadomasochistic relationship with him (if that sounds overly clinical, the first movie involves a lot of talk about contracts). Of Grey is sort of a relationship drama, but the sequels bring in Christian’s dark (or is it Darker?) past and become a little more like thrillers. The stakes get bigger and more intense, but deep down it’s still a love story.
So are the movies actually any good? By all accounts, no. That doesn’t mean they can be fun to watch, though. Do you think people are actually sitting there and enjoying every second of the extended editions of Lord of the Rings? Just close the curtains, maybe get some wine, and then lie about what you did this weekend when people ask you on Monday. Or invite some friends over and just have fun with how crummy it all is. We’re not going to tell you how to enjoy your new tradition of watching the Fifty Shades trilogy on the first weekend of October every year.
- Release Date
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February 13, 2015
- Runtime
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125 minutes
- Director
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Sam Taylor-Johnson
- Writers
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Kelly Marcel, E.L. James
- Producers
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Dana Brunetti, E.L. James
- Sequel(s)
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Fifty Shades Darker, Fifty Shades Freed
- Franchise(s)
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Fifty Shades
