Here are some photos of Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan at the London premiere of Fifty Shades Darker last night. Minus one major fashion fail at the Madrid premiere a few nights ago, I’ve been enjoying Dakota’s fashion during their promotional tour. I feel like she might have saved the best look for London, and I love that she chose a very interesting Alexander McQueen gown for the London premiere. That’s just as it should be! While this McQueen isn’t perfect and Dakota’s styling seems a little bit too casual, overall I really like this. She looks beautiful. Jamie looks like… Jamie. He can be so sexy sometimes, but never on a red carpet.
As for the film, a lot of reviews came in over the past few days and… well, it’s not looking good. From what I remember, critics hated the first movie too, which is as it should be. The first movie was awful and Dakota and Jamie have ZERO chemistry. But to be fair to the first movie, it had an art-house director who was determined to make the Ana character have agency, humor and heart (qualities which were lacking in the book). Fifty Shades Darker just seems like a boring rom-com with some moderately kinky sh-t between two people who don’t have any chemistry.
Right now, the movie sits at 8% on Rotten Tomatoes (ouch). The Independent’s review of the film claimed that Christian “is duller as a personality at the end of the film than at the beginning” and that most of the dialogue “could equally well belong in the drippiest, most conventional romantic drama.” There are many references to the film’s “utter blandness.” USA Today boldly claims that FSD “somehow manages to be worse than the stupefyingly bad Fifty Shades of Grey.” Newsday gives it “zero stars” (out of four, I think?) and they called it a “cinematic travesty” which is “utterly ridiculous.” Of course, the Newsday critic also insinuates that Ana is only banging Christian because he’s rich, which… having read the books, I think is unfair. Ana doesn’t bang Christian because he’s rich. She bangs him because she’s a complete idiot.
What else? Please read this Variety review – I laughed the entire way through it, especially when the critic suggested that all it takes for Ana to get back with Christian is one mediocre dinner and then he goes down on her (SOLD). Anyway, I’m sure this will make a bajillion dollars. Bless them.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN.
I love that dress.
LOVE it…would love it more without the sleeves.
Yes.
Everything else is perfect.
The pattern is decadent, the fit is lovely, what is with the sleeves?
The sleeves are too twee for the rest of a fabulous dress.
I’m freaking out over how much I love this dress. I don’t think I’ve ever coveted a garment as much – maybe Nicole Kidman’s moon cape gown thing at the MET gala.
E.L. James seemed to be around the set of 50 shades darker quite a bit, which is probably why it sucks so hard. A decent screenwriter could have made something coherent out of the mess. James makes Meyer look like Hemingway in terms of writing ability. It’s too bad the production team wasn’t given creative license to improve the story significantly.
I absolutely love it. Very revisited Edwardian dress. She’s been on top of her game.
I saw this movie 2 days ago and it is absolutely, unmistakably awful. I thought the first movie was decent enough (not as bad as people made it out to be) but this one was just boring and nothing else. No story, no plot, no chemistry. Nothing.
Even more boring than the first? I watched the last half of it on fastforward.
It amazes me that anyone could make porn so boring.
Really??? I totally enjoyed it! Saw it this morning! 😀 Best soft porn I have seen in years!
I love the dress but he will forever be the guy from the Fall. His eyes seem a bit soulless or something can’t quite work it out. He’s good looking but….
Invisible maybe? Its so hard to notice him even though he is right there!! I dont know. Maybe its just me
AG-UK. Yup, I couldn’t get over his character in The Fall either. It’s put a permanent creep factor on anything he plays. On another note, I cannot wait for the one-button jacket to go out of fashion. It’s very unappealing to see a guy’s tie and pants waist peeking out like that. It’s supposed to be body conscious I suppose, but it just looks like somebody shrunk the damn thing in the wash.
This film is going to bomb so bad.
You can see the embarrassment in their faces, they can’t wait to put distance between this film and their career.
Such a shit project to be involved with and just from reading the book you could tell the films were going to be shit.
Maybe Dakota needed the popularity and to raise her profile? But was it worth it?
You think? It’s just about the only thing the young women I work with have talked about for the last week. They’re all dragging their poor boyfriends to see it.
I think it will be unwatchable, and you can definitely see how embarrassed Jamie Dornan is. But I don’t think the movie (can’t bring myself to call it a film!) will bomb too bad.
No, the movie won’t bomb, either foreign or US domestic. It won’t do as well as the first movie, but it’s highly probably they’ll make a profit from it, the production budget was only 55 million, not including marketing, And the last one made 571 million world wide, even if this ends up doing only 1/2 that they’ll be fine.
Just waiting on someone to shout “RELEASE THE KRAKEN” and the dress will come alive and something will burst out of her.
You can tell how dry the movie will be from the stiff ass red carpet pictures #FiftyShadeDuller
ElleBee..you made me spit up my morning coffee..great line. Thanks for the morning laugh
The reviews are making me want to go see it because I’m one of those weirdos who would rather watch a trainwreck than an ok film. If its in the callibre of The Room, Battlefied Earth and Showgirls then I am all in.
I’m the same way! Some movies are so bad they end up being good, so I’ll watch this when it’s on demand lol.
This, I think, is a strong argument for BANGS. Like the dress. Didn’t read the books, so YaY for me!
Me, either. 🙂
She just seems so basic to me. I don’t see the “pretty” or “gorgeous” other people seem to see.
She looks like her dad, which for a woman doesn’t work out so well. If it wasn’t for her famous parents she wouldn’t get these roles because she isn’t pretty enough to be a starlet otherwise. And her “acting” can’t make up for it.
Nic, I look like my dad, too. ☺️ And I have bangs, partly for that reason. 😳 Thank goodness I’m not in the public eye.
Is it because I’m not used to her forehead? Is that why it looks so large?
As a pasty gal, her skin is goals.
Same. I’ve always hated how anti-bang this site is. Some people really do benefit from them! Dakota and myself included. I suffer from a short forehead WITH a pronounced widow’s peak. I gotta cover that $hi+ up!
Interesting dress.
No interest in this movie.
I love the look from the neck down, it’s a gorgeous dress. I don’t think her hair and makeup do the dress justice
Yes, the dress is wearing her, isn’t it? It’s like she’s disappeared from the picture. The dress is gorgeous. I have to give Sarah Burton credit. Also, Dakota forgot her earrings – it might have made a difference here.
I agree. Fabulous dress, but the styling is off.
Dakota looks fantastic. I’m really loving the dress and makeup. No inerest in the movie. It looks bad as the first one. But I’m sure it will make money, maybe not as much as the first one but it has a big fanbase.
I’ve no idea whether these two hate each other or not but for actors they do a really bad job of feigning friendship/chemistry at events. Love the dress though! I think I would’ve gone for a bolder lipstick personally.
BDSM could be handled in a far more interesting way, but the fact that the lack of power/gendered roles mirrors the role play means I have zero interest. Talk about reinforcing every possible sexist cliche.
Lovely dress but she disappears into it – maybe if her makeup and hair was styled different. There was a reason McQueen was picky about which celebs wore his clothes – not everyone can wear them.
“Ana doesn’t bang Christian because he’s rich. She bangs him because she’s a complete idiot.” I almost spit out my coffee. Kaiser – I don’t always agree with your commentary, but I will keep sticking around because of these gems. Thanks for that!
Cheer up kids, you only have one more of these movies left to promote and then c’est fini. Move on to better, bigger things. Both of you can do better.
I just don’t understand. He’s such a good actor outside of this stupid project. Like, he was even sexy as a serial killer. And I do like Dakota, more of as like a cute person maybe fun to hang with as opposed to an actress but still. Two young attractive people should be able to do better than glares of love for a 2 hour film.
Right?! I love(d) him in The Fall. Really creepy, but hot.
Yes, he’s excellent in that show.
He’ll get more chances to showcase his talent, I’m sure of that. Same for her, as I believe she does have actual acting chops.
The story behind this debacle should be well known by now. After no A listers would go near this garbage with a 15 foot pole, the producers settled for these two. I find Johnson to be dreadful and not at all pretty. Dornan was good in THE FALL, but the horrible reviews for this crap will follow him for a while.
Could we have erotica without the stupidity?
The other problem was that E L James had input and was, allegedly, very very difficult to work with. When the studio was negotiating buying the rights James demanded executive control over it (she’s a producer), a move the studio would later come to regret if the stories about what it was like on set of the first one are to be believed. She and Sam Taylor-J clashed, with James demanding that they follow the book, using her dialogue. Some big names were interested purely down to the fact that they wanted to work with Sam T-J but were put off by James who is known for being unpleasant.
Charlie Human has hinted that the reason he walked from the production was because of James. Am told by those who’ve seen it that the only reason the first one was barely watchable was down to Sam Taylor-J and screen writer Kelly Marcel who somehow managed to polish a turd.
The dress is nice and well fitted but it also looks like something you can buy at Macy’s. If it costs more than $300, it’s over priced IMO.
I personally think it’s hideous.
I thought it was just me.
Dress is amazing but I think it would be better without the sleeves. Dakota needs better styling. The hair, make-up, and accessories are all wrong for this dress.
The real question is: How the critics are surprised that the movie is so bad when it came from a trilogy that should be burned in a massive fire? The books are utterly garbage
I actually love the dress and the sleeves. But the fit/cut is off at the sleeves– one ‘s quite a bit longer than the other. I don’t think it was meant to be like that 😕
I totally believe, that this movie is awful, but I am still extremely curious …
This trilogy is my guilty pleasure … Like Kardashians. No? You hate them, but you can’t stop watching them. Or train crash? You just can’t stop!
I hate myself, but I need to see this garbage movie.
And for me … this movie is a good distraction from Donald Trump. For couple hours. I’ll better watch this movie than news today.
Dakota looks lovely, but i don’t like her accessorize and hairdo.
This is probably the best dress I have ever seen. OMG I love it so much!
HUzzah! tired mom and her Disgusted surly-guy -that- touches- her-when-neither-of-them -wants- him-to ACTUALLY SMILE!! these too have the chemistry of opposing magnetic Poles, is fascinating to watch!
I realize I am very late to the dinner table on this, but I recently watched Fifty Shades of Grey on Movie Central, and my goodness did I laugh out loud. I give props to both lead actors for being able to keep a straight face as they delivered portions of their dialogue to each other. Even if a film is badly written, it can be somewhat saved if the lead actors have great chemistry, but that was not this case in FSofG. Jamie Dornan was so good in The Fall, so I know he can act. Dakota Johnson, not so much. I will probably watch this next instalment if for nothing else than the comedic value it will have.
I like everything about the dress, including the sleeves. I also like how Dakota’s styling is often simple and minimally fussed, at least in the various photos I’ve seen of her on this site.
Currently standing at 8% on Rotten Tomatoes and 4.3 on IMDB !
The film that is, not the dress! 😊
I love the dress but Dakota Johnston is always meh. 😶
I love this dress. Her makeup is pretty, but the hair needs help, And Dakota needs her bangs. She also needs earrings.
I like it, dark and romantic like the movie. And I think Dakota looks more stunning with her hair up verse down. She looks very regional verse ordinary.
I concur re the dress- it’s great!
Wonder if any of the blame for the dullness of the movie goes to the director and/or screenwriter?
The dress is fabulous, even with the sleeves. Her hairstyle less so. Meh on him. I have no intention of watching this tripe, I’m just here to giggle at all the scathing reviews.