I am amazed at those who drools over this charmless film. First of all, let's get past the acting. It's not a stretch for Jennifer Lawrence to play a trollop but speaking a bit of Russian to make her role more realistic is. Also, Jeremy Iron's Korchnoi is a disappointment. He is supposed to read the book before taking on a role but little remains of Jason Matthews' Korchnoi in the movie. Can Jeremy be short of money? The rest of the cast - forgettable wherever they hail from.

Ah, the book. I read the three books and loved each one. They're completely unbelievable but have a certain quirky attractiveness that makes for a good read. There's nothing lofty or classical, just fun. Part of the fun is that Matthews places a recipe at the end of each chapter related to a food item that is consumed in the chapter. Ever wondered what is in Putin's pantry? The trilogy is an ethnic Foodie's tryptych. Because spy movies and Iron Chef don't mix, the movie can't import one of the best features of the books.

In the books, Domenika has a superpower that she keeps as a secret to herself and that's what keeps her ahead of her enemies. That could have been incorporated into Red Sparrow easily and kept the movie from becoming the trashy spy knock-off it in fact is at the heart.

Finally, the first of the trilogy doesn't have a happy ending (spoiler for the BOOK: Korchnoi is killed at the exchange, not the uncle - he gets his another way. I won't spoil that). Why does Hollywood avoid tragedy. Life is full of it. We need a few downers so that the art of movies imitates the life they're supposed to depict.

Can I say it often enough - unglue your eyes from whatever screen they currently adhere to and do some reading.