Tetrady not as good as all the hype

Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Patience Watson One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

Asad Almond A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Alyssa Black (Aly200) What could have been a well executed and suspenseful murder mystery is instead an erotic thriller that is clichéd and poorly strung together and just wastes the talents involved.In one of the worst performances of her short-lived career is Madonna as the film's femme fatale accused of the murder of her wealthy lover, but of course the clichéd question is: did she do it? While the "Material Girl" singer did turn in a lauded performance in "Desperately Seeking Susan" a few years prior, the singer turned actress is blander than watching paint dry in this film. The filmmakers seemed to have only cast the actress for her scandalous sexuality and for provocative imagery. There is no substance to Madonna's work as she just looks pretty and delivers horrible dialogue that is just cringe-worthy and reeking of amateur screen writing. While the singer was given her choice of leading man, there is zero chemistry between her and costar Willem Dafoe whose talented is even more ill-used; coming off as a pairing we could care less about. Madonna ended up garnering her first Razzie for her abysmal performance, which was truly earned. A true victim of this train-wreck with wasted acting is Madonna's ill-fated costar Willem Dafoe as her defense attorney who gets pulled into a dangerous web of sex, lies and murder. The actor truly gives the film his best effort, but if the viewer looks carefully one can see the actor is not enjoying the material he is given. While playing an anti-hero of sorts has paid off for Dafoe in other roles, here it's difficult to try and watch such a talented performer deliver equally cringing lines with an utter lack of enthusiasm. Even Dafoe's chemistry with Julianne Moore as his wife is completely lacking as Moore is hardly given anything to work with and like Dafoe, doesn't appear to want to be in the film. Dafoe received his first Razzie nomination, but got lucky to lose out, but why he agreed to take the gig is beyond comprehension. The film's premise is promising enough to make one curious to see the film. However sitting through about one hour and forty-some minutes of horrible dialogue, bad acting, completely lifeless sex scenes and a bland clichéd ending is not worth the time. Some will defend this schlock-fest, but it really is worthy of the harsh criticism.

adisan-13787 It is a good movie starring this time Willem Dafoe. The introduction begins with a suicidal and policemen coming to inspect the place of the crime. Well,nothing special about it. However,as the story unfolds,the mystery soon fades.Firstly, Madonna plays her role very well, a bit like in desperately seeking Susan, but this time, she has got more screen time, and she has definitely improved. Different scenes which are good should not be forgotten as the restaurant one, or the trials one. I literally loved how Willem Dafoe magnified the role of a fearsome lawyer. The chemistry between him and Madonna is again really good, but this time,the movie looks way more professional compared to "Who is that girl", for instance. Nevertheless, the story did not fascinate me and it was too much sexual sometimes, so I would give it a rate of seven.

Predrag Madonna's track record with movies has not been too good. When this movie was released it was trashed by the critics, but I believe it was in part because it was released at the same time as her Sex book and Erotica CD. Most of the public were fed up with Madonna and sex and people basically ignored this movie and one of her best CD's, Erotica.The plot involves Rebecca Carlson (Madonna) who has been accused of murdering her much older lover by deliberately having kinky sex with him despite his severe heart condition. Frank Dulaney (Willem Dafoe) is a defense attorney who gets assigned to her case. He is married to Sharon (Julianne Moore) and has a son. Robert Garrett (Joe Mantegna) is the prosecutor. During the trial the highly flirtatious and kinky Rebecca begins to weave a spell over Frank and pretty soon he's having a torrid affair with her while the trial is still going on. He does a decent job keeping it from his wife for awhile , but naturally, she eventually finds out. There's also the deceased man's secretary Joanne (Anne Archer) who is convinced that Madonna killed him to get his riches but it turns out that Joanne may have been much closer to her employer than just working for him.It's a murder mystery and a courtroom drama. What is very interesting though is that there are, in fact, two trials in one. The first is the murder itself. The second, subliminally but more overt as things progress, is about what the conservative mind would refer to (perhaps) as deviant sex: handcuffs, restraints and making love in a public place for example; in this case, a poorly lit multi-storey car park. As such, a serious argument is presented in favor of the non-conventional view of sex; one that is fun and exciting but of course, only when both parties agree. It is certainly a view I subscribe to and have written about. The verbal descriptions elicit reactions in court. What was particularly impressive was the acting of Madonna. I have never thought of her as an attractive woman in the conventional visual sense but she certainly conveys a predatory hunger in this movie. The fact that she was much younger than the man she was in love with resonates; I have been there. I give it five stars because it presents the case for an aspect of life - terrific sex - that so many decline to acknowledge.Overall rating: 7 out of 10.

itamarscomix Those three words seem to run through most of the reviews for this title, yet still it maintains its very low 4.1 average rating. It's probably one of the best of the exploitative, sleazy erotic thrillers of the 90's. That's not high praise, but it also places it quite far away from the worst films ever made.The weakest link in the film - and maybe the one responsible for much of its bad reputation is Madonna. Having tried her might at several mediocre comedies, Madonna chose this thriller as her first serious role, and she doesn't quite make it. Her acting isn't quite horrible - but she's clearly trying to channel the femme fatales of the classic Film Noirs, and placing herself in the same category as the likes of Barbara Stanwyck, Marlene Dietrich and Kim Novak, she's nowhere near good enough. It's also not as good as her previous femme fatale role on Dick Tracy, which was just self-aware and campy enough to work. But Body of Evidence takes itself too seriously for Madonna's performance to pass. Surprisingly, she isn't even good enough at being sensual and seductive, making the sexual scenes quite awkward (as lovely as it is to see so much of Madonna's skin, that is).But surprisingly, most of the other scenes work quite well. Willem Dafoe and Joe Mantegna are good enough as the rival lawyers to make the courtroom scenes very effective, and as a courtroom drama alone (paying as little mind as possible to Madonna's scenes) it's well written, well acted and quite entertaining. Julianne Moore is good in her few short scenes as Dafoe's wife, and much of the supporting cast is also solid. All of these make it an entertaining enough thriller, filled to the brim with clichés but still managing to hold a little punch at the end. It's by no means a great film but it's also not that bad.