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HOLMBERG: ‘Fifty Shades’ does not include much blushing

Posted at 11:54 PM, Feb 13, 2015
and last updated 2015-02-13 23:54:43-05

RICHMOND, Va. -- Twenty years ago - probably even 10 years ago -- a movie like the sexually-explicit, bondage-driven, semi-romance movie like “Fifty Shades of Grey” would’ve ignited bodice-ripping on the part of outraged protesters making a stand for morality and decency in a town that many used to see as an uptight bastion of southern propriety.

Yes, there has been protesting on social media. And a creative local pastor launched a series of counter sermons called “5 Shades of Grey,” complete with an interstate billboard.

But at the theaters, it appears, “Fifty Shades” is just another movie, competing against the red-blooded blockbuster “American Sniper” and the surprisingly potent “Kingsman: The Secret Service.”

This is a town that turned out in droves for the shockingly irreverent and explicit hit play, “The Book of Morman.” It’s also the same town that welcomed some pretty risqué burlesque at the proud and stately Virginia Museum of Fine Arts with hardly a manicured eyebrow raised or feather boa ruffled.

Sex – even kinky sex – isn’t going to blow many people’s minds any more in Richmond, which has long been a key hub of the international extreme music scene and a nice stop in the art world, thanks to Virginia Commonwealth University and some seriously creative, offbeat folks.

Your movie better be good – not just sweaty and beefy.

Se we rolled out to the sweet Movieland complex on the Boulevard and chatted with folks going in and coming out of the "Fifty Shades" experience.

We talked with a 60-year-old woman who sat through it twice and much younger folks who were surprised at the idea that modern women might want to be dominated in the bedroom.

Would the book be better than the movie (which is often the case)? How will the really heavy parts fit into an R-rate movie?

Is it too smutty? Is it worth the hype?

Check out the video. We tried to have a little fun with what appears to me to be a pop culture flare-up that is best not stare at too closely.

Please share your reviews or thoughts here. Hope you have a heart-warming Valentine’s Day.