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THE NEXT BEST THING (2000)

Starring: Madonna, Rupert Everett
Director: John Schlesinger
Synopsis: Sexuality-tweaking comedy about a thirty-something bachelorette who gets impregnated by her exceedingly charming gay friend after a wild night of drinking. The pair then decide to form an unconventional-but-loving family.
Runtime: 108 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Genre: Comedy

Reviews:

0 out of 4 by reel.com (Robert Payne)
John Schlesinger should be forcibly retired from filmmaking before his reputation as a world-class director is completely shot to hell. But that film is a masterpiece compared to The Next Best Thing, yoga-brained, "alternative family" travesty starring Madonna as Abbie, a you-know-what instructor, and Rupert Everett as gay gardener Robert. In this calamitous, supposedly "hip" comedy/drama, the mismatched best friends find themselves expecting a child after a one-time sexual encounter during a screwball drunken stupor. (Convenient that a few drinks would suddenly make a gay man forget his sexual orientation, no?) But, since Abbie's biological clock is in emergency mode and Robert isn't normally prone to breeding, the pregnancy seems a convenient way to start a loving, if unconventional, family of their own. read more
3 out of 10 by Scott Renshaw
You can be sure that The Next Best Thing will find plenty of viewers unsympathetic to its message in support of unconventional family structure -- the Christian Coalition, for example, or the Utah State Legislature. What, then, is the excuse for The Next Best Thing turning out so generally dreary and uninspired? It starts with a provocative premise involving two L.A. best friends: yoga instructor Abbie Reynolds (Madonna) and gay gardener/landscape architect Robert Whitaker (Everett). The pair share all their relationship traumas with one another, and spend many nights crying on one another's shoulders. Then, one drunken evening, crying on shoulders turns into something more complicated: a one-night stand that results in a pregnancy. Abbie and Robert decide that their best friendship could make them wonderful parents, so they move in together and become mother and father to their son Sam. And all is well until six years later, when Abbie's desire for a more conventional relationship threatens to come between Robert and Sam (Malcolm Stumpf). read more

THE KIDS ARE PUNNY (1998)

Starring: Rosie O'Donnell, Mary Tyler Moore, Madonna
Synopsis: Upbeat HBO special based on O'Donnell's book blends celebrity-stocked cartoon shorts with live-action kid quips. Childhood humor, kid's-eye perspective, host's exuberant style provide light-hearted entertainment for Rosie fans, family audiences.
Runtime: 35 minutes
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Genres: Animation, Comedy, Kids, TV show

EVITA (1996)

Starring: Madonna, Antonio Banderas
Director: Alan Parker
Synopsis: Lavish, lengthy historical quasi-opera about Argentina's idolized first lady. This big-budgeted Hollywood extravaganza will disappoint character development fans, but greatly entertains followers of polished musicals, Madonna devotees.
Runtime: 134 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Genres: Drama, Music, Romance

Reviews:

salon.com review: by Laura Miller
The movie looks great, the spectacle fittingly spectacular and its Argentinian flavor strong, smoky and convincing. It even attains one moment of pure lyricism, when couples of all ages, across the nation, mourn the death of Eva Per�n in 1952 by dancing languid, weepy tangos in the streets and bars. And the performances are strong, all the more impressive since every line must be sung. As the poor, illegitimate country girl who finagled her way into public adulation as the stylish wife of President Juan Per�n, Madonna acquits herself handsomely � conveying both steely will and vulnerability. But, oh, that music. Having survived the ordeal of Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera," I feel confident in saying that he's responsible for the many failings of this movie. read more
6 out of 10 by Scott Renshaw
Evita opens in 1952, with the overwhelming emotional response of the Argentinian people to the death of their First Lady, Eva Peron (Madonna) from cancer at the age of 32. A cynical narrator named Che (Antonio Banderas) then proceeds to examine who this woman was, and flashes back through her life, beginning with her childhood as the illegitimate daughter of a middle-class businessman. The young Eva Duarte becomes determined to find fame and fortune, and heads to Buenos Aires on the coattails of a popular nightclub singer (Jimmy Nail) she seduces. Sleeping her way to success as a model, radio personality and film actress, Eva eventually meets Juan Peron (Jonathan Pryce), an up-and-coming colonel in Argentina's military regime. With Eva by his side, Peron becomes a populist president of Argentina, and Eva becomes a figure as revered for her acts of charity as she is reviled for her self-promotion. read more

GIRL 6 1996

Starring: Theresa Randle, Isaiah Washington, Madonna
Director: Spike Lee
Synopsis: Stylish, energetic, offbeat comedy about out-of-work actress taking job at phone sex company. Though critics were lukewarm, this appeals to viewers interested in challenging exploration of society's sexism and racism.
Runtime: 108 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Indie

Reviews:

Boxoffice magazine review:
Spike Lee's light drama about a struggling actress who slips into the world of phone sex gives the whole subject a surprisingly mild treatment, especially for Lee. Stunning Theresa Randle stars as Girl 6, the title assigned to her when she lands a job at a rather tony New York phone-sex service. Unlike the gruesome joints full of fat ladies that you hear about on "Oprah," this place hires the likes of Naomi Campbell. It even provides training sessions, plush offices and understanding management. With this seedy vocation so cleanly rendered, one wonders why Lee decided to investigate it at all. Far from ripping the veil off the profession's facade, he makes it look like a pretty fair career choice. read more
Film.com review: (by Keith Simanton)
Very Spike Lee film from, guess who? As such it is quite humorous, blatant about its subject, and frequently utterly befuddling. Theresa Randle is an actress who doesn't want to bare her breasts so she becomes a phone sex operator to pay the bills. Spike Lee is her affable next door neighbor in a variation on his Mars Blackmon role from She's Gotta Have It. Think of this as a generational update on Nola Darling: the whole film seems glossier than you suppose it would (until the end) and not much is accomplished except a lot of expensive phone calls. Just thank God that someone has shown Lee the little room with "Editing" stenciled on the door, for Girl 6 doesn't drag on, and on, and on as so many of his more famous films have done.

BLUE IN THE FACE (1995)

Starring: Harvey Keitel, Giancarlo Esposito, Madonna
Directors: Wayne Wang, Paul Auster
Synopsis: Low-budget, episodic, wink-at-the-audience collection of musings by ultra-hip stars. This critically acclaimed "Smoke" sequel is most appealing for art-house aficionados seeking improvisational, philosophical banter rather than cohesive plot or character development.
Runtime: 84 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Indie

Reviews:

4 out of 10 by Scott Renshaw:
In the late 70s and early 80s, Burt Reynolds made a few execrable movies which included outtakes during the closing credits. There was something about those outtakes, amusing though they occasionally were, which added insult to injury. You watched Burt, Dom DeLuise and company laughing hysterically over a blown line and knew that they had had infinitely more fun making the move than you had had watching it. That was the feeling Blue in the Face, the improvised "instant sequel" to Smoke, left me with. It is a series of mostly monotonous snippets of conversation interspersed with some genuinely interesting documentary material about Brooklyn, but not nearly enough of it. It is a noble experiment, but a failed one. Blue in the Face is set mostly around the Brooklyn Cigar Company, run by Auggie Wren (Harvey Keitel). Auggie is facing difficulties with his lady friend Violeta (Mel Gorham), as well as the prospect of the store being sold by owner Vinnie (Victor Argo). Vinnie's wife Dot (Roseanne) is also part of the mix, planning to run off to Las Vegas to take the trip Vinnie has promised but never delivered. There is also a running monologue by Lou Reed, and cameo appearances as neighborhood characters by Lily Tomlin, Michael J. Fox, Jim Jarmusch and Madonna. read more
3.5 out of 4 by James Berardinelli
While filming Smoke, writer Paul Auster and director Wayne Wang became aware that there was a wealth of untapped potential in the secondary characters. So, after devising a number of thumbnail sketches for scenes, they approached Miramax to request funding for a second movie. The outcome is Blue in the Face, a low- budget companion piece to Smoke that was filmed in less than a week. Blue in the Face had no script and the direction by Auster and Wang was minimal. This resulted in an improvisational picture the likes of which is rarely seen in theaters. There is no plot to speak of -- just a series of disconnected vignettes. The directors gathered their actors together, started rolling the cameras, and told the men and women to talk until they were "blue in the face." read more

Four Rooms (1995)

Starring: Tim Roth, Antonio Banderas
Directors: Allison Anders, Alexandre Rockwell
Synopsis: Quartet of quirky vignettes by hip art-house directors about hotel shenanigans. Widely panned, this may disappoint even devoted fans of the directors with its uneven quality, low humor quotient.
Runtime: 98 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Horror, Indie

Reviews:

3 out of 10 by Scott Renshaw:
An anthology film is usually very difficult to pull off. The old adage goes "a chain is only as strong as its weakest link," and that applies to anthologies as well -- it only takes one sluggish entry to bring everything to a screeching halt. New York Stories was weighed down by Francis Coppola's precious "Life With Zoe;"Twilight Zone: The Movie had Steven Spielberg's treacly "Kick the Can." Then there is Four Rooms, the collaboration between independent film darlings Allison Anders, Alexandre Rockwell, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. Four Rooms takes place on New Year's Eve in Hollywood's once-posh Hotel Mon Signor, on the first night on the job for bellhop Ted (Tim Roth). On that one wild night, Ted has several strange encounters with hotel patrons. In the honeymoon suite, a coven of witches prepares for a summoning, with Ted required to provide "The Missing Ingredient." In Room 404, Ted is "The Wrong Man" caught in the middle of a strange quarrel between a husband (David Proval) and wife (Jennifer Beals). Room 309 is the room of "The Misbehavers," two troublesome children Ted is hired to babysit by a slick couple (Antonio Banderas, Tamlyn Tomita). Finally, Ted is called to the penthouse to help settle a macabre bet engineered by "The Man from Hollywood," fast-talking star-on-the-rise Chester Rush (Quentin Tarantino). read more
Film Scout review (by Leslie Rigoulot)
"Four Rooms" had such an interesting genesis that it is almost easy to forgive the outcome. Four of today's hot young directors - Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriquez, Allison Anders and Alexandre Rockwell - decided to do a movie in which each would work independently with only one unifying character, the bellhop in a hotel. Everyone wanted to be in it and a lot of people go there, including Madonna, Antonio Banderas, Marisa Tomei and Tim Roth as the unenviable bellhop. "Four Rooms" never lives up to the hype and should discourage the directors from working together again. Rated R.

BODY OF EVIDENCE (1993)

Starring: Madonna, Willem Dafoe
Director: Uli Edel
Synopsis: Would-be erotithriller about sultry woman accused of murdering her wealthy husband via sadomasochistic lovemaking. Though eviscerated by critics, its appalling performances, ridiculous sex scenes might entertain very bored trash cinema connoisseurs.
Runtime: 99 minutes
MPAA Rating: R/NC-17
Genres: Drama, Erotica, Suspense

Review:

0.5 out of 4 Chicago Sun-Times:

The movie stars Madonna, who after "Bloodhounds of Broadway," "Shanghai Surprise" and "Who's That Girl?" now nails down her title as the queen of movies that were bad ideas right from the beginning. She plays a kinky dominatrix involved in ingenious and hazardous sex with an aging millionaire who has a bad heart. He dies after an evening's entertainment, and Madonna is charged with his murder.
But she's innocent, she protests - and indeed there is another obvious suspect, the millionaire's private secretary (Anne Archer), who is also his spurned former lover. Willem Dafoe plays the defense attorney who firmly believes Madonna is innocent, or in any event very sexy, and Joe Mantegna has the Hamilton Burger role. read more
1 out of 4 by James Berardinelli
The central question of Body of Evidence is whether Rebecca Carlson (Madonna) used her body as a deadly weapon. Her latest paramour, a millionaire who has willed 8 million dollars to her, dies of a heart attack. District Attorney Robert Garrett (Joe Mantegna) believes that Rebecca, knowing that her lover had a weak heart, killed him with sex so that she could get the money. Frank Dulaney (Willem Dafoe), Rebecca's lawyer, has to prove her innocence. Throwing ethics to the wind and ignoring his own doubts about his client, Frank becomes involved in a sadomasochistic relationship with Rebecca. For those who have a desire to see Madonna in the altogether, the $6.00 spent on a ticket for Body of Evidence is far less than the cost of her book Sex. Other than that, however, there is no reason why a thinking, rational human being would subject him/herself to this embarrassing excuse for a motion picture. read more

DANGEROUS GAME (1993)

Starring: Harvey Keitel, Madonna
Director: Abel Ferrara
Synopsis: Offbeat, voyeuristic, life-imitating-art thriller about director whose film is reflecting his own life. With its improvised feel, raw style, hip stars, alienated sensibility, this pleases art-house crowd, fans of director.
Runtime: 107 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Genres: Cult, Drama

A League Of Their Own (1992)

Starring: Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Madonna
Director: Penny Marshall
Synopsis: Sister-act pitching/catching battery join women's professional baseball team in 40s period comedy-drama. Overly sentimental, but excellent ensemble, fact-based, feel-good story, funny scenes appeal to "women's picture" fans, sports history buffs.
Runtime: 128 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Genres: Comedy, Drama

Reviews:

The Jacksonville Film Journal review:
Hanks plays a drunken ex-baseball star who is given a job as the manager of one of the all-girls baseball teams developed during World War II. The movie is basically about two sisters (Davis and Petty) who love each other but Petty also hates Davis because Davis is a big star and is stealing the spotlight away from Petty. So Petty bitches and whines and breaks things throughout the entire film and then ends up victorious in the end. What? Whining and complaining brings about glory and victory? Another problem with the film is that Davis is given too much screen time and the rest of the cast is neglected. Hanks and Lovitz are outstanding, but given little to do. In the beginning of the film, a big deal is made about a plain-looking girl who can play the game really well. Then you really don't see her again. And then there's another girl who can't read. So you're thinking that during the film there should be some minor yet heartwarming scenes about teaching her to read, right? No, just one joke involving Madonna and a sex novel. read more
eFilmCritic.com review:
America's supposed national pasttime, was picked up by the women as well as being the workhorse for the war machine. Ironic, to me, that women built the guns that got the the men killed. If they had also been generals, maybe today we'd be living in Sapphoica. Men would be kept around as breeding stock for a nation of genetically engineerd amazon women. But this isn't a lesbian film. Nope. lots of healthy, corn fed red blooded heterosexuality. Except for Rosie O'Donnel who just screams DYKE in this movie. She's the girl who tried out for all the teams, played with the boys in the summer and beat up (and then off) your brother. But they did cast Lori Petty. Who played a "tomboy". pretty sneaky and gracious! madonna can act. read more

Shadows and Fog (1992)

Starring: Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Madonna
Director: Woody Allen
Synopsis: Offbeat, Kafka-esque tale about 1920s-era bookkeeper drafted by neighbors to hunt for strangler. Though critically panned, this film's stunning atmospherics, all-star cast, and angst-loaded humor still please some Woody Allen regulars.
Runtime: 86 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Mystery, Suspense

Madonna: Truth Or Dare (1991)

Starring: Madonna
Director: Alek Keshishian
Synopsis: Documentary follows Madonna through Blonde Ambition tour. Occasionally drags, but singer's fans enjoy concert footage and even non-fans should be engaged by witty, occasionally poignant warts-and-all presentation of pop diva.
Runtime: 118 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Genres: Documentary, Music

Reviews:

3.5 out of 4 by Chicago Sun-Times:

Although the movie seems happiest when it is retailing potential scandal, its heart is not in sex but in business, and the central value in the film is the work ethic. Madonna schedules herself for a punishing international tour of mostly one-night stands and then delivers with a clockwork determination, explaining to a family member in Detroit that she can't go out to party because she has to conserve her strength. Night after night the exhausting show goes on, taking on aspects of a crusade for the cast members. Ironically - given Madonna's onstage use of sacrilege as a prop - every show is preceded by a prayer session, everyone holding hands while Madonna asks God's help and recites a daily list of problems. And when her dancers have personal problems, they come to her as a counselor and mother figure. read more
Washington Post review by Hal Hinson
In "Truth or Dare," Alek Keshishian's documentary record of last year's "Blond Ambition" tour, Madonna accomplishes what her career as an actress could not -- she has finally turned herself into a movie star. She has done it by sheer force of will; she was hungry to conquer the big screen in the same way that Hitler was hungry for Poland, and if she couldn't make the transition in other people's films, moving from the dim margins of pop culture glamour to her rightful place at its halogen-bright center, she would make a movie of her own, playing the character she best knows how to play -- herself. Madonna, the real Madonna, is precisely what "Truth or Dare" promises to deliver, raw, kissing-close and uncensored. But what we get in this sometimes engrossing, sometimes appalling, always entertaining film is something other than "real," something that may in fact be just as revealing as the real thing itself. read more

DICK TRACY (1990)

Starring: Warren Beatty, Al Pacino
Director: Warren Beatty
Synopsis: Visually stunning adaptation of popular comic strip, in which detective fights surreal villains in a stylized urban metropolis. Fantastical action/adventure, with its over-the-top performances, pleases fans of Hollywood-style, mainstream entertainment.
Runtime: 105 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Genres: Action, Comedy, Drama, Suspense

Reviews:

Film.com review by (Joe Hartl)
Early reviews of Dick Tracy have been divided between those who liked it better than Batman and those who didn't. Fans of Tracy tend to talk about the primary-color production design, the charmingly artificial special effects, Al Pacino's knock-out makeup job, Stephen Sondheim's catchy songs, Warren Beatty's flashy yellow trenchcoat and Madonna's flashier nightclub costumes. They also tend to denigrate Batman as a movie that had nothing but great sets and a stylishly grotesque villain to distinguish it. Tracy, they say, is a real movie-movie, with a faster pace, more action and a more colorful cast of supporting characters. As a Batman fan, I'm not buying it. read more
3 out of 5 by Movie Reviews UK
Reworking the comic strip, but sticking with its spirit, Dick Tracy showcases some astounding make-up and set design as the fight against crime continues. Dick Tracy (Warren Beatty), a ram-rod straight detective and symbol of hope for the city, is always on call through his watch-radio. His long suffering girlfriend Tess Trueheart (Glenne Headly) understands this, even if she doesn't like it, and is resigned to being stood-up at a moment's notice. One of the thorns in Tracy's side is gang boss Lips Manlis (Paul Sorvino), owner of an illegal gambling den and associated businesses. However, Lips is replaced by Big Boy Caprice (Al Pacino) after a cement-related take-over bid succeeds. Thus a new era of law breaking begins. read more

BLOODHOUNDS OF BROADWAY (1989)

Starring: Matt Dillon, Madonna
Director: Howard Brookner Naizzano
Synopsis: Off-center, jazz-era gangsters and molls cavort in New York in 1928. Fans of writer Damon Runyon will enjoy this mildly amusing, PBS-produced musical tribute, which benefits from a strong cast.
Runtime: 90 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Genre: Comedy

WHO'S THAT GIRL? (1987)

Starring: Madonna, Griffin Dunne
Director: James Foley
Synopsis: When a woman gets released from jail after serving time for a murder she didn't commit, she goes after the people who framed her with her unwitting attorney in tow.
Runtime: 94 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Genres: Comedy, Cult

Reviews:

Washington Post review by Hal Hinson:
The movie is outrageously inept, but not in a routine manner. It's not a snooze, like "Shanghai Surprise"; it's deeply, strangely bad, but in a way that's fascinating. It's got a weird spirit, this movie, and odd bits throughout that keep you going. The plot itself is antic froth. The "Girl" in the title is Nikki Finn, released from prison after four years for a trumped-up murder rap and determined to clear her name. The man sent to put her on the bus back to Philly (where her mother, who thinks she's been shopping, waits) is Loudon Trout (Griffin Dunne), a weaselly tax attorney and high-paid flunky to an eccentric New York real estate giant named Montgomery Bell (Sir John Mills). In addition to being one the city's wealthiest men, Bell also collects rare animals, and one of the central mechanisms in the film is that the large cougarlike kitty -- a Patagonian Felis Concolor -- he's had shipped into the country keeps getting lost, with Nikki's help, of course. read more

SHANGHAI SURPRISE (1986)

Starring: Sean Penn, Madonna
Director: Jim Goddard
Synopsis: A missionary hires a soldier of fortune to find a missing opium stash she has earmarked for wounded soldiers.
Runtime: 90 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Genres: Action, Comedy

Reviews:

Film.com review by Joe Hartl:
This heavily publicized on-screen pairing of Sean Penn and Madonna is based on such a trivial script, and Madonna is so wildly miscast, that you wonder if either of them read it before they agreed to do it. He plays a hustler, she's a missionary, and they're trying to find an opium cache in 1938 Shanghai because, in her words, "Guns cause pain; opium eases pain." Could even Meryl Streep make that line work?All that's left to like by the end of Shanghai Surprise is Ernie Vincze's handsome photography of Macao and Hong Kong. According to last week's Variety, MGM is spending very little money to promote the picture because box-office interest has been "nonexistent" in spite of "high awareness" of the film. According to an MGM executive, the couple's "People magazine popularity has not translated into a $5 movie value."

DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN (1985)

Starring: Rosanna Arquette, Madonna
Director: Susan Seidelman
Synopsis: Offbeat screwball comedy/romance involving mistaken identity was set in Manhattan's hip 1980s downtown scene. Appealing to fans of energetic, stylish farces and zany romances. A must for Madonna fans.
Runtime: 103 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Genres: Classic, Comedy, Cult, Drama, Romance

Reviews:

3.5 out of 4 by Reel.com
Roberta (Rosanna Arquette) is a twenty-something Fort Lee, New Jersey housewife with a 40-year-old's wardrobe and a philandering, paternalistic husband who follows the adventures of a free-spirited stranger, Susan (Madonna), through messages left by Susan and her boyfriend Jim (Robert Joy) for each other in the newspaper personal ads. Bored by her own humdrum existence, Roberta trails Susan one day to an assignation with Jim at New York's Battery Park, only to become convinced that she is Susan a day later when a blow to the head leads to amnesia. As Susan, Roberta discovers a self-sufficiency she never knew she had, and a new romance with good-natured projectionist Des (Aidan Quinn). Roberta, though, soon discovers that being Susan does have its downside � such as the rabid mobster (a scenery-chewing Will Patton) hot on her trail. read more
Film.com review by Joe Hartl:
Susan Seidelman's Desperately Seeking Susan is a slickly flaky comedy that falls just short of the promise of Smithereens, Seidelman's independent feature debut a couple of years ago. But it's not likely to disappoint anyone who's interested in what kind of presence the rock star Madonna can bring to a role, and what last year's James Dean heir, Aidan Quinn, has been doing with himself since his debut in the unfortunate Reckless. This movie was actually shot before Madonna's rise to MTV stardom, and it has been rushed into release to capitalize on it, yet it doesn't look hurried. read more

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