Rating: 
Summary: A movie only a Madonna fan could love
Review: Madonna has a habit of making films with her husbands, and this film is testimony to her marriage with actor Sean Penn. Madonna and Sean both have the romantic lead. Madonna had said that she and Sean had intended on this being a romantic comedy in the tradition of THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1952), but that in the end, it just didn't turn out to be the movie they had hoped for. So, there you have it, folks, even *Madonna* has admitted that this movie is a failure. So, as with just about every film Madonna has made, SHANGHAI SURPRISE will likely be interesting only to the Madonna fan. She seems to be creating her own little genre. This movie was produced by ex-Beattle George Harrison, and perhaps the only redeemable thing about it are the songs he wrote and contributed to this movie's soundtrack. That, and the fact that Madonna is very beautiful in this movie. But these two things alone are not enough to save SHANGHAI SURPRISE, unless, of course, you are a Madonna fan.
Rating: 
Summary: Shanghai Surprise (1986)
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Not for the faint hearted
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Not for the faint hearted
Review: 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. Ah, if only she had remained married to him she might have been an Oscar winning actress by now. Or perhaps not! This film deserves to be seen for Sean's acting alone. So if you've got nothing planned and you want to watch a DVD that doesn't tax your brain too much then this is ideal. The soundtrack is good too - shame they never released it commercially.
Rating:
Summary: Painfully bad
Review: My Oh My
To think that hero worship can be blinding is too much!!! This movie was horrible then as it is today as it will be FOREVER! The only enjoyable thing in this flop fest is George Harrison's music which could not save the film nor his burning desire to direct movies altogether. Not suprisingly he quit after making this monstrosity which is a real shame. Harrison died not long ago unfortunately but we still have Madonna to contend with! The world is indeed not fair. Her own burning desire to become a screen siren never happened. Here she is boring, flat and down right dreadful. This is a real horrible film with horrible stars. Madonna in any movie is horrible enough and UNFORTUNATELY she has kept making movies to this date? Why? Remember that she followed this one with 1987's Who's that Girl? and later that horrible Evita (a story about a Nazi loving fascist) and then Swept Away. Somebody should have stopped her when they had the chance. She is box office poison and yet her blind fans will actually try to convince us otherwise. Don't waste your money on this flop fest unless you feel like throwing your money away.
Rating:
Summary: This film is quite good!!!!
Review: Slated by critics on release in 1986 and even by its stars because of their unpleasant experience of making this film, it actually turned out to be an okay film. The performances aren't great, but the story is quite interesting. This film sees Gloria Tatlock (Madonna), a missionary in search of the opium needed to cure her patients. In order to find the opium, Glendon Wasey (Sean Penn) agrees to help Gloria in turn for getting back to the United States.They run into trouble when every thug in Shanghai who are equally interested in the opium, this is when the twists in the story start. This film is a love story/adventure which is really quite watchable - so give it a go you will either like or hate it.
Rating:
Summary: The Lousiest Gong in Town
Review: The ONLY reason this film is worth more than gum stuck to your shoe is because of the late George Harrison. Some great songs were written and used in this film...some bad ones too!
Where else can you find the one time Beatle crooning in 1937 China. Great songs like 'The Hottest Gong in Town' and 'Zig Zag' were unfortunately placed in this awful use of poor talent. Although he re-recorded it the next year, 'Someplace Else' is another gem done for the film. It's too bad musical talent was wasted on one song called 'Shanghi Surprise'.
A movie like this could kill your career. Sometimes I wish it had.
Rating:
Summary: Soundtrack 4 stars
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Bad... but perversely enjoyable
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Bad... but perversely enjoyable
Review: 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.
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