I agree, Madonna is not as bad as she is made out to be. She has had some really fun movies and I hope she lands a role someday where she simply can not turn down. F*ck the critics!

So you picked the three roles where Madonna was effectively playing herself as evidence of her acting prowess?

How could Madonna have been "playing herself" in DICK TRACY, A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN and EVITA? If so, she would have to have the most diversified personality in history. Madonna was very good in those movies, and was also good in the charming BLOODHOUNDS OF BROADWAY and in the brilliant flick DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN. She came very close to greatness in the knock-down, drag-out movie DANGEROUS GAME aka SNAKE EYES. But as an actress, she's a wild pitcher—it isn't her forte, it just works sometimes. And no matter how cool and self-aware she can seem, she definitely has succumbed to that movie-star blind spot in selecting her material and evaluating her performances/the words of her critics. THE NEXT BEST THING was forgettable but not as bad as it was made out to be. SHANGHAI SURPRISE, WHO'S THAT GIRL (she might have been directed toward a good perf in that, the voice was the only thing really wrong), BODY OF EVIDENCE and SWEPT AWAY were atrocious and embarrassing and deserving of the lambasting they received. She gets all the blame for SWEPT AWAY because she deserves it. I think Madonna can be good, but never, ever when she has too much control of the project—because the people around her would not dare tell her, "You know what? This sucks. This needs to be re-thought, 'Luv."