Body of Evidence was an early 90s murder-mystery/erotic-thriller starring Willem Dafoe and Madonna. This was made at the time when Madonna was in the midst of what was probably her most controversial period when she put out the book "Sex" and her Erotica album. The main draw was the fact that Madonna was nude quite a bit during the movie. The plot is fairly basic and somewhat predictable. A wealthy elderly man dies from erotic asphyxiation while watching a homemade sex tape of himself and a younger woman (Madonna's character Rebecca Carlson). The police suspect that Carlson killed him and arrest her for murder. Willem Dafoe plays Frank Dulaney, a lawyer hired to represent Carlson. Of course, he also begins sleeping with her and the basic is she or isn't she a black widow plot plays out.
The movie is okay, but not great. It does have a strong supporting cast including Julianne Moore, Joe Mantegna, Anne Archer, and Frank Langella, so the fact that the movie was not great had more to do with the writing than the acting. Madonna was definitely the weakest actress of the group, but she did a decent job with what she had to work with. The "problem" with the movie is that it really was just not all that good a script.
For those who get the Blu-Ray, you get both the unrated version of the movie and the theatrical version. They are nearly the same length, it is just that parts of the sex scenes (that would have earned the movie an NC-17 rating) were edited to show less (the unrated version has a full-frontal shot of Madonna) and to be less graphic (heavily editing down the scene where Madonna touches herself). The actual story is not changed at all from one version to the other. Only the unrated version of the movie is in HD, however, and while it is not an outstanding HD transfer, it does look much better than the standard definition theatrical version of the movie. There are a few extras including a short making-of-featurette, a stills gallery, and the theatrical trailer.
Overall, this is really a movie that most people are going to watch to see Madonna, who was in her physical prime at the time it was made (and still looks pretty good at 60), nude. That has always been the appeal of the movie as it was not an award-winning masterpiece by any stretch. In fact, plot-wise it was really just above one of the late-night Cinemax direct-to-video movies, which it probably would have been if not for the fact that they got a decent cast. If you don't particularly care about Madonna it is watchable, but it is easily something you could just have on in the background and pay fleeting attention to.
The movie is okay, but not great. It does have a strong supporting cast including Julianne Moore, Joe Mantegna, Anne Archer, and Frank Langella, so the fact that the movie was not great had more to do with the writing than the acting. Madonna was definitely the weakest actress of the group, but she did a decent job with what she had to work with. The "problem" with the movie is that it really was just not all that good a script.
For those who get the Blu-Ray, you get both the unrated version of the movie and the theatrical version. They are nearly the same length, it is just that parts of the sex scenes (that would have earned the movie an NC-17 rating) were edited to show less (the unrated version has a full-frontal shot of Madonna) and to be less graphic (heavily editing down the scene where Madonna touches herself). The actual story is not changed at all from one version to the other. Only the unrated version of the movie is in HD, however, and while it is not an outstanding HD transfer, it does look much better than the standard definition theatrical version of the movie. There are a few extras including a short making-of-featurette, a stills gallery, and the theatrical trailer.
Overall, this is really a movie that most people are going to watch to see Madonna, who was in her physical prime at the time it was made (and still looks pretty good at 60), nude. That has always been the appeal of the movie as it was not an award-winning masterpiece by any stretch. In fact, plot-wise it was really just above one of the late-night Cinemax direct-to-video movies, which it probably would have been if not for the fact that they got a decent cast. If you don't particularly care about Madonna it is watchable, but it is easily something you could just have on in the background and pay fleeting attention to.
