Body of Evidence (1992)

Of all the erotic thrillers that came in the wake of Basic Instinct, Uli Edel's Body of Evidence is arguably the silliest. Although the screenplay attempts to titillate with kinky sex games, the dialogue is flat. Madonna's stale delivery does nothing to help the proceedings. Her Rebecca Carlson is so unappealing, such a non-entity as a human being, even an actor as talented as Willem Dafoe is unable to be credibly attracted to her. Dafoe keeps a pained look on his face throughout most of the film that is supposed to communicate an uncontrollable urge, but one gets the impression that the look betrays the actor's knowledge of how bad the film is. Director Uli Edel had some success in Germany and had achieved art-house respectability with Last Exit to Brooklyn, but Body of Evidence seemed to kill whatever career momentum he had built up to that point. This film is valuable only for pop-culture fiends who savor Madonna's cinematic train wrecks like Swept Away, Dangerous Game, and Shanghai Surprise (to name just a few). ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide