Review of Body of Evidence (1993) by Bradley F — 11 Nov 2013

This movie has a serious case of missing identity. When watching Body of Evidence, I noticed that the film is constantly switching from a crime drama to an underground porn movie. It also doesn't help when you're lead actress isn't even trying to act and also the script is filled with a clumsy storyline and hokey dialogue. Let's explore this mess of cinema known as "Body of Evidence".

Rebecca Carlson (Madonna) is accused of murdering of older lover by literally fornicating him to death. Soon, her attorney (Willem Dafoe) begins to also fall for her sexual charm as a long and boring trial goes on in the background. I will say this much for the film ,it does have an interesting premise and there could be a great film here. But the screenwriter Brad Mirman doesn't know what to do with the premise. In fact, it pretty much is secondary while the sexual relationship between our two lead stars is the priority. And I am not exaggerating here, the sex scenes in this movie last close to 10 minutes at a time in this film. We get that Rebecca is a sexual beast, you don't need to hammer it in. When we're not trapped in a bedroom with Madonna and Defoe, we are stuck in a Courtroom filled with boring dialogue and nothing interesting comes up. Yeah, we get more details about Rebecca's sex life with her lovers but that's not enough to hold up a whole story let alone a film. Just like the sex scenes, the courtroom sequences seem to last FOREVER! It's like watching a really long episode of Law and Order SVU except there's no tension, no interesting characters and nothing interesting to say. The film is just a boring, bland and tasteless waste of time.

Madonna's acting is as you expect, zero skill with no effort or validity. There Is one scene where it looks like she is trying, but it's just even more proof she should stick to music. Also, her character is really flat and one dimensional. Rebecca Carlson is an attractive woman with a huge sexual appetite... so what? As a writer and storyteller, you have to give us a reason to care about this woman besides the fact that she's beautiful. It's not just her, Dafoe's character is not that great either. He is an attorney who is conflicted about his job and his "feelings" (I use the word loosely) for his client who could be a murderer. But not once does the film delve deep into this conflict or what the character is feeling. In fact, we hardly get to see his relationship with his wife or anything else. The film feels so closed off and only focuses on the sexual nature of this story.

All in all, the film has a premise that could be intriguing but the execution is not done very well. The acting is sub par, the writing is beyond ridiculous, the characters are boring and the direction is also really off. Only question is... why didn't this film get more Razzies?