“Fifty Shades of Grey” – Focus Features(NEW YORK) — You can be sure that thousands of couples across the country will be spending part of their Valentine’s Day weekend watching Fifty Shades of Grey at the movies. You can also be sure that at least some boyfriends and husbands aren’t looking forward to the experience.
As Cosmopolitan.com editor Amy Odell tells ABC News Radio, “We asked our followers to text their boyfriends and ask them to see Fifty Shades with them on Valentine’s Day and report back. And pretty much all of the ones that I have looked at, the guys were just saying, ‘Are you kidding me?'”
Why exactly would men be reluctant to watch the big-screen version of E.L. James’ best-selling erotic novel? Odell explains, “I think that this movie in particular is extremely, extremely feminine. The movie is not what you would call a rom-com, but it almost fits into that same category, I would say, of movies that you see with your girlfriends and you have a lot of fun watching, and less like a date movie.”
GQ articles editor Jonathan Wilde offers the male perspective on this subject: “I don’t think it’s sex and nudity within a context that we’re particularly excited about. It’s not that we don’t like those things per se, it’s more that everything else around it just seems absolutely, catastrophically uninteresting.”
But that’s not to say that guys are against the idea of the movie or film. “I think the general gist on the guy’s side has been, y’know, it’s maybe not for me from a kind of storyline standpoint. But it cannot hurt to have women in the world just more open and free and engaged and enjoying their own kind of like sexuality in a large, awesome, kind of massive pop culture moment kind of way,” explains Wilde.
It’s not just about sex, though. While Odell agrees that many women may want to use the film to start a dialogue about sex with their partners, many want to check it out for a different reason. “It’s about seeing the phenom come to life and being part of this huge thing that everyone is excited about,” she explains. “And I think it’s as much about that as it is the book, which people feel really strongly about and really, really like.”
So what about that Valentine’s Day date drama? Well, Wilde advises guys that if your partner asks you to take her to see Fifty Shades on Valentine’s Day, it’s worth it. He reasons, “If the biggest sacrifice you have to make to make the other person you’re with really happy is to go see a movie that’s kind of gonna be fairly sexy and spend two hours eating some super-buttery popcorn and slurping down a Coke – that’s, in the scheme of things, not the worst way to not only spend a Saturday night, but probably not even Valentine’s Day.”
Even if it’s not a Valentine’s Day date, Wilde says guys may want to go because there’s the possibility of future fun in store. “I suppose if you’re looking it as ‘Hey, maybe this is a gateway drug for her and us as a couple to get into some exciting new things in the bedroom, then it’s probably worth investing a couple hours,” he says.
But if you can’t stomach the idea of sitting through scenes of a naked Dakota Johnson being tied up, Wilde says, the smart move is to offer her a romantic alternative that she can’t say no to. “Have something even better planned [so] she can’t force you into the Fifty Shades of Grey thing,” he explains. “And then you don’t even have to worry about it!”
Odell, meanwhile, has extreme advice for any woman whose partner refuses to take her to see the movie: dump him. Why?
“Because [if] it’s an important experience for you to have as a woman and your partner can’t share those two hours with you, then he’s probably not a very good guy,” she declares.
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