Which film has Madonna's worst performance?

Most of them were bad

Really bad. She’s like a cartoon.

I mean really bad.

I think the problem with her is she memorizes her lines and remembers what she’s supposed to do but she doesn’t take the further step of how to make it look natural.

Isn't the correct answer all of them. She was ok in Desperately Seeking Susan but she was still very amateur. Everything else is embarrassing. But if I had to pick she was atrocious in Who's That Girl. Especially cause it it looked like she tried to make an acting choice which she should never do. No matter how camp. She simply can not act.

She has the it factor/star quality, so even if she's not that great she still gets a pass.

Sorry, not sorry.

[quote] She has the it factor/star quality,

More like the what-is-it? factor/star quakity.

It might be more fun to list her best performances. Or more accurately, her more "okay/passable/adequate" performances. (For the record, it's been decades since I would describe myself as a Madonna fan.)

I think she's better than okay in DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN. She actually funny, appealing, and not mannered.

EVITA. As I always say on threads like these, it's a bad movie musical, but not because of her. She's not great but she's pretty good. A solid, if strenuous performance. And she sounds about as good vocally as she ever has or will.

A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN. Again, she's quite funny at moments, and has a genuine chemistry with Rosie O'Donnell in their scenes together.

THE NEXT BEST THING. Another bad movie, but it's not her fault. Well, not entirely. She's just passable here.

GIRL 6. A cameo as "Boss 3." I find her dryly funny as a phone sex proprietor. (This makes me wish she'd done a guest spot on THE SOPRANOS in that same era.)

*blink*

*blink*

*Robotically delivers line*

*blink*

I'm still amazed she thought she would be up for an Oscar in 96 when there was some marvelous work by actresses. McDormand, Blethyn and Watson were absolutely in a different world acting from this overlong stupid music video that was Evita.

I’ve only seen a few of these but I remember sweat away being pretty bad. And isn’t it a rip off of Overboard? I really liked her in desperately seeking Susan but she was kind of playing herself.

I agree with the posters above about the movies that she was good in, and wanted to add Dick Tracy. It was camp, but it fit with the movie and she looked amazing.

I don't mind her in Who's That Girl? Yeah her voice is grating but somehow she drops all her pretenses and has some fun with the role, and she had good chemistry with Griffin Dunne.

She was awful in The Next Best Thing. So earnest and it seemed so false.

[quote] I think the problem with her is she memorizes her lines and remembers what she’s supposed to do but she doesn’t take the further step of how to make it look natural.

This is exactly her problem. Madonna sees herself as an actress, but she doesn't put in the work and she doesn't approach a project like an actress. She could at least approach it as a performer (since she is one). In her videos and on stage, she can emote and can show emotion through her singing and dancing. But on film, she is flat and goes through the motions. You can see her thinking about her next line. She doesn't improvise or create any distinguishing characteristics for her characters. And she doesn't seem to like to improvise. Abel Ferrera got one of the best performances from her in Dangerous Game because he pushed her to improvise and her performance was more natural and had some substance. Another problem for Madonna and her acting is her voice. She sounds flat and/or monotone. It's like she cannot project, and when she does, it sounds like she is in a high school production and does not come off as natural.

How can someone get WORSE at acting?! Wtf is wrong in R2......How could be acting that badly in 2002, and not learnt anything in the past 25 years.

She is so bad in those Swept Away clips, what a dumb cunt she was.

All of these are bad performances.

Bitch needs roasting. And then she has the arrogance to get behind a camera and set herself up as a director.

R10 Lina Wertmueller did the original "Swept Away" in 1974. This was a remake. I have yet to see it but the clips weren't as bad as I expected. They're not good but i've seen worse.

Swept Away was astonishingly terrible, mainly because of that crazy accent she was sporting.

Even in her arguably best film, EVITA, her dramatic scenes lack gravitas, never mind her voice.

I walked out of Evita. Awful. BECAUSE of Madge. And I was a Madge fan. She's passable in Desperately. Terrible actress, great music video star. One of the best music video stars. Isn't that enough?

She seems desperately bad in Swept Away. I look at her now and with the distance, she looks and acts mentally ill in Swept Away. I don't think the divorce and aging broke Madonna. I think it was during that marriage.

As a mother.

She sucks in everything but I thought she was cute and funny in some scenes in WHO’s That Girl.

She wasn’t terrible in DSS, but was still a bit too aware of herself. She wasn’t able to create a character either. Susan was, as we all know, supposed to be a bit of a con artist, a thief, sort of a slob, untrustworthy yet really charming. Madonna went through the motions of all of that but didn’t develop a character at all. She was just Madonna.

William Defoe movie was so badly acted that it becomes really funny to watch. So it’s kind of enjoyable.

The Next Best Thing is Madonna standing outside of herself watching herself act. She finds herself delightful. Her biggest flaw by her own assessment is that she’s too perfect. That’s why she had that put in the movie. Her boyfriend dumps her, because he just can’t deal with how awesome she is at everything.

Op you ask a very tough question. It is actually overwhelming. So many equally horrid performances.

So many bad performances to choose from! This many choices has overwhelmed me! I’m so brain tired now. Must rest…

She was always so *whiney* in her performances. No matter what character she was playing, she cames off as a bratty little girl.

Swept Away by a mile. When she got slapped with that fish, I actually felt bad.

She ruined Dick Tracy by being a constantly blinking plank of wood who was about as sexy as Kevin Costner saying her show was “neat”.

Tough call, but I have to go with "all of them"

Irritating, from start to finish.

Madonna had a penchant for comedy roles, ironic considering how humourless she is. Trying to impress on us that she's a comedienne, in the same way she pretended she was a singer.

And yet, being taken seriously is all she's ever wanted.

I had no idea she had made so many films. Let's give her a Lifetime Disappointment Oscar.

Oh god shoot me! These Madonna threads are so tired

[quote] She ruined Dick Tracy by being a constantly blinking plank of wood

Seriously, what was up with the blinking? Even here, the second the mask comes off.

I saw "Body of Evidence" in a theater... there was maybe a dozen people. And the scene when then unknown Julianne Moore slapped Madonna in the ladies room, the audience clapped!

A reviewer for a newspaper saw Shanghai Surprise and stated that her performance was "frightening." And it didn't seem to get better as time went on. She was lucky as a singing artist but bombed out badly as a film star.

That one time she tried to actually sing.

She has the same problem acting when she speaks. It is like an overly cautious style where she seems to be thinking too much about what she says.

Why does she blink so much while acting a role? Is it her way of trying to appear 'alive' and not wooden in front of the cameras?

She remains utterly expressionless, trots out her lines as if reading a recipe, and blinks....blinks.......blinks

I think her blinking a lot is like a poker tell that she is now in actress mode. She blinked a lot when she guested on Will and Grace. She blinked a lot in some scenes in Truth or Dare.

Do you think any acting coach ever told her to just hang it up? "You just can't act."

Speaking of Madonna movies, haven't heard much about the Madge movie bio lately. Will audiences be spared this self-love fest?

"The next best thing" with Rupert Everett. With a capable actress the movie could've been a cute romantic comedy, but the producers decided to cast Madonna for some unfunny reason and it sucked.

In The Next Best Thing it throws a curveball when Madonna’s character tries to take away the shared custody she has with Rupert’s. That part was not so funny and lighthearted.

I never understood if Madonna never had the self awareness to know that she wasn't a good actress or whether she was too egotistical to admit it.

Little Edie Beale said she loved dancing, but she didn't really know how to dance. She loved to parade around and have everyone look at her.

The same could be said for Madonna and acting,.

Madonna actually can be good at acting...her strengths were comedy and musicals. Who's That Girl is pretty damn hilarious, as well her parts in A League Of Their Own, Desperately Seeking Susan, and Dick Tracy.

She was good in DSS and Evita (because she didn’t really have to speak.) I wasn’t crazy about her in Dick Tracy but she did look good in that role.

Couldn’t stand her in Duck Tracy. Such a self-conscious ham. She was a ham in League too.

Looking at OP's photo reminds me of how hot Sean Penn was when he was younger. Plus he has a big dick. No wonder she wanted him.

Body of Evidence should get more play as camp. You can see the strain on the inexplicably extremely talented cast (Dafoe! Moore! Mantegna! Langella!) trying to make it look like Madonna is this sublime sexy femme fatale and delivering some of the most retarded lines known to man. There's even a badly shot bitchslap given by Julianne.

Then again, Vadge got to fuck Dafoe because of this of movie so I remain jealous. My lifelong crush.

Did she really fuck him? I hadn’t heard any gossip about that when this was being filmed.

Completely agree this movie should get more play as camp. It’s not deserving to be up there with Showgirls of course but still. I always feel DL overall is indifferent to this movie, though.

100% agreed R46.

Please don't make me choose.

So much wasted celluloid should be celebrated.

r49 Sean Penn doesn't have a big dick. He *is* a big dick, though.

Body of Evidence.

"It's not a crime to be a great lay"

Have you ever seen animals make love, Frank? It's intense.

I don't care what anyone says, Who's That Girl? is entertaining and Madonna is good in it. It's one of the rare times when Madonna looks like she's having a good time and isn't so self-conscious. Her accent doesn't really work but her overall performance is fun, and she has great chemistry with Griffin Dunne.

Did Madonna and Sean Penn fuck on the set of Shanghai Surprise?

I think Evita is about as good a movie as that show could ever be. It's wonderfully directed. It might have been better with a star who could really sing it well (like Patti Lu) but it might have been worse. I think it's Madonna's best movie, certainly her "biggest" role.

Her other pretty good appearances are Dick Tracy and A League of Their Own. Otherwise, her movies are all pretty bad.