Superfans go hot and heavy for 'Fifty Shades' on opening night

A grapefruit mojito, a double Moscato, a cocktail with a name meant to imply something far more salty than melon-scented vodka could ever taste.

These were the drinks gradually lubricating a group of women who had congregated in the lounge at the upscale Showplace Icon Theatre in St. Louis Park on Thursday night during the hour leading up to the opening of "Fifty Shades of Grey."

With source material adored by some — and reviled by others — the "Fifty Shades" adaptation may turn out be the most divisive film of the year. But for superfans, many of whom passed the trilogy's books around the office or read them for book clubs, this was a night long anticipated.

And what better way to celebrate the release of the sadomasochistic fantasy than with a couple of drinks from the theater's "Fifty Shades"-themed menu?

Connie Towson had downed the Tryst, made with Grey Goose (get it?), Sprite and grenadine — an adult Shirley Temple — and was downright giddy. "I'm taking my mother to see an erotic movie!" she hollered, adding, " 'cause my husband wouldn't go."

"So I had to go," Karen Hayes deadpanned.

"At 75," said Towson, gasping for air during a bout of giggles, "she should be thanking me."

"I threw the book," Hayes said. "I'm like, are you kidding me? Nobody does this crap."

But Hayes wouldn't be walking out of the film, no matter how much she might want to.

Her daughter told her, "Sit there, be quiet, pretend you like it."

That seemed to be the mandate for a number of women who came in support of their more devoted friends.

Chantelle Pendleton and Jammie Hernandez just shook their heads at their two Delano neighbors, Cortney Berg and Sonja Wahl, who both had read the books multiple times.

All nine of the women in a semiprivate room at the back of the lounge, though, were hard-core fans. One of them even admitted that her second child was conceived because of "Fifty Shades."

The women were seated on a plush red circular sofa that could have been taken straight from Christian Grey's "red room."

"I've been waiting for this for a year," said Ashley Elsen of St. Louis Park, who was joined by, among others, her mother, Kathryn Elsen, and stepsister Lauryn Groshens.

Was it awkward to share an interest in erotic fiction with family members?

"There have been times when I've been, 'OK, Ash. Mom shock value,' " Kathryn said.

So, yes, lots of awkwardness.

At another table, romance novelist Tracy Won of Golden Valley sported a sweater just for the occasion — it was black with white letters spelling out "Ooh La La."

"I'm addicted," Won said about the franchise. "I'm all in."

She and her three companions agreed that their attraction to "Fifty Shades" wasn't about the sex.

"It's about the control," Won said.

"He loves and adores her so much," said Teri Gibbons of Blaine, referring to Grey's stalker-like obsession with Anastasia Steele.

The story, they said, is universal.

"It just attracts everyone: married, dating, single — everyone can enjoy it," Gibbons said.

"Except our boyfriends-slash-husbands don't do this," Strantz said.

Several of the film's showings this Valentine's weekend had sold out in advance at the theater.

But shortly before show time, a group of three men arrived to the now standing-room-only lounge. Could they possibly be "Fifty Shades" fans?

Alas, they were going to see "Kingsman: The Secret Service." They had come up only for the bacon popcorn.