Customer Reviews

Shanghai Surprise [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I am a huge Madonna fan. I love her music. I love her movies (not because I think she can act but because they're always so bad they're good). But this movie is an exception to all the others. It's just bad. Words can't describe. I think what made it so painful was the fact that it went on forever. Just when you think it's over something else happens. Once that's over with something ELSE happens. After that, something ELSE happens. And then something else. And then something else. And all that really happens is Madonna and Sean Penn run around like idiots. I'm sure this movie must be really embarassing for them. Madonna's performance is so wooden and if Sean weren't cute he wouldn't be any fun to watch either.

I wish I could give this movie 0 stars.

The story is rubbish, the acting is bad, however I did enjoy it in some perverse way! (One of those, its so bad its good films perhaps?)
Know-one comes out of this film unscathed. Penn's character is completely annoying; his histrionics really grated on my nerves and Madonna's acting has never been worse (the crying scene has got to be seen to be believed).
The scenery is beautiful though, and possibly the only other noteable thing this film has going for it, is that Madonna is absolutely stunning in it.

It's hard to believe that 21 years have passed since this Madonna-Sean Penn disaster was first released. And time has not worked any wonders on this clumsily plotted, awkwardly incompetent movie. What you get with this SPECIAL EDITION release is a beautifully remastered picture with 5.1 sound, a gaggle of special features which are quite funny (one of which I'm actually on--listen for me on the fans commentary, I'm the bitchy New Yorker in the room!). It's a movie only a dedicated Madonna fan could love, and if you are one, then you simply must upgrade!

JUST WHEN YOU THINK YOU HAVE SEEN YOUR LAST OF SUCKY MOVIES..ONE, LIKE THIS REARS ITS UGLY, BLEACH BLONDE HEAD..WHEN WILL SOME PEOPLE START READING SCRIPTS, BEFORE COMMITING TO DO A MOVIE..I HOPE SOMEONE GOT FIRED OVER THIS FIASCO..IT ACTUALLY MAKES MOVIES LIKE "GRAFFITI BRIDGE" LOOK LIKE "ITS A WONDERFUL LIFE"....MADONNA, GO HOME!!!!!!!! GO TO SHANGHAI, GO ANYWHERE, BUT RUN FROM MOVIES LIKE THIS.., I ONLY GAVE THIS 1 STAR, BECAUSE THAT IS AS LOW AS ONE CAN GO..IN REALITY..ONE STAR IS ONE TOO MANY..SAVE YOUR MONEY, GO GET "SPINAL TAP" INSTEAD.

It seems like "Shanghai Surprise" is synonymous with bad movies. I don't care, I really love this movie. Because it falls into that so bad it's pathetically funny category. Madonna plays the part of Gloria Tatlock, missionary for all the laughing sinners. Gloria meets Glendon Wasey (don't you just love that name?) (played by Madonna's first-husband, Sean Penn) and although it is a dramatic action story (they're searching for opium) it is also a love story between Gloria and Glendon. My favorite part was when Gloria fell out of the window while Glendon laughs at her.

Madonna has already made herself a star by releasing three albums, Madonna (1983), Like A Virgin (1984), and True Blue (1986), and starring in her first film, Desperately Seeking Susan. Sean Penn has already been a big hit with his roles of Mick O'Brien in Bad Boys, Brad Whitefield Jr in At Close Range, and his most memorable, Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times At Ridgemont High. The married couple star in this mediocre film about two different people who wind up falling in love.

Sean Penn plays Glendon Wasey, a miserable man trying to a get ticket back to the states. Madonna is Gloria Tatlock, a missionary nurse who seeks the curing powers of opium for her patients. The two find each other and are on a mission to find this opium. Doing all this, the two begin to fall in love.

The film was a total flop in the box office. It is not a great film, but isn't that bad. It started to heat up towards the end. It's sort of worth the money.

Make no mistake this film is dreadful. But you can't blame it all on Madonna's acting. The script is appallingly bad and the film cannot decide whether to be a romantic comedy or an Indiana Jones style action adventure. In the end it's neither, the budget just doesn't stretch that far. The scenery is nice though and Madonna does look stunning, even though she looks like she is bored stiff and is reading her lines from an autocue. The only intersting bit and redeeming quality this film has is Sean Penn's acting. He carries the film and the look of fondness he has for Madonna in the one-on-one scenes with her is obvious. She also shows signs of animation when she is acting one-on-one with Sean. And then just when you thought this movie couldn't get any worse Madonna gets to utter the most cringeingly awful line ever in the history of the "talkie". "Guns bring pain - opium eases pain", just dreadful.
I wouldn't recommend buying this DVD unless you're a very, very dedicated Madonna fan.

i saw this movie in the theater when i was a kid (the place was completely empty). i haven't seen it in ages since but i just got the dvd and i didn't remember it being so good. what an enjoyable film.

madonna and sean are both sexy and adorable. the plot is full of fun twists and the ending is so uplifting. i don't think it's anything oscar-worthy but it does what a good movie should do: it entertains.

along with desperately seeking susan and who's that girl, this is one of madonna's most natural performances. she doesn't overpower the movie the way she has in all her post-league of their own work (that power only worked to her advantage in evita).

also, she's not as mannered and affected here as she is in later films. the only stiff part is in the beginning (where one newspaper reviewer said she seemed to be reading off cue cards) where gloria is treating glendon with distaste. i guess it's hard for madonna to play "stiff" without seeming like she's acting.

but the rest of her performance is very natural. her smile at the end when sean takes her arm and makes her wave to faraday is extraordinary, on par with the acting of a good romantic comedy actress like sandra bullock or julia roberts.

i can see why sean and madonna wanted to do this. it had the potential to be well-received (though period screwball comedies/love stories were an outdated genre after 1975) but i think the media can make or break you. the media was really fed up with the poison penns and that's why they trashed this movie.

The only worthwhile aspect of this mess of a movie is the George Harrison soundtrack which seems to be mastered with pretty decent sound here (though not 5.1). Sadly, Madonna and Sean turned this into enough of a flop, that the soundtrack album promised at the end of the film was cancelled.

The sleeve states this is released in full frame because that is the original aspect ratio it was shot in. If that is the true case, I'm glad they stuck to that, and didn't chop the picture to be trendy. You may actually be seeing MORE of the picture here, than the few of you who went to the theater saw at the time.

This is a very cheap, bare bones and disappointing DVD package. Besides missing trailers, not having a pristeen print, and not having upgraded sound or isolated soundtrack, it would have also been fun and historic to include all the news clips and press conferences from the times. Harrison had to go out to the film sites on several occasions to straighten out the bad behavior of both the press and the spoiled "stars". I remember those clips as being pretty entertaining at the time.

Essential even with the flaws for Harrison fans. Essential for Madonna fans to hear what a good movie soundtrack sounds like. Thank goodness she didn't sing in this one too, George lost enough of his money on it as it was.

All right, I'll admit it, I bought this movie because I am a Madonna fan. However, I'll also be the first to admit that the movie is choppy and the plot is a little weak. Also, both Madonna and Penn aren't the best at their acting ability here. All that said, for its flaws (and yes, they are plentiful), the movie really is quite enjoyable. In the first hour or so, the movie is especially hard to follow, so hard to follow you may even find yourself howling with pleasureful laughter! However, in the last 30 minutes or so of the film you won't be able to get your eyes off the screen. Everything starts moving so fast you'll be glued in, and many will find themselves especially excited. The scenery and the performances of the other actors involved also help contribute to Shanghai's goodness. All I can say is that, though with its flaws, Shanghai Surprise is still a good movie, and while one only a Madonna or Sean Penn fan really needs to own, it's still worth seeing. It's certainly original.