for better or worse , the appearance of basic instinct in the movie marketplace gave the greenlight to a whole slew of <NEG> overheated , oversexed , underwritten </NEG> thrillers . apparently not having joe eszterhas as the writer doesn't change a thing , since body of evidence wasn't written by him , but has a puzzling eszterhas-ish presence all over it . in other words , it's a ) really dirty and b ) <NEG> really , really stupid </NEG> . madonna ( first <NEG> warning sign </NEG> ) stars in body of evidence as a woman who has piles of money and no apparent job ; she lives on a houseboat and likes to parade around semi-naked , presumably for the edification of the shrimp . she's been accused of having murdered an older man who was her lover . already two classic examples of hollywood sexism are in effect -- the first being that any woman in a movie cannot be sexual unless she's under thirty ( or at least looks it ) , and that they usually only exist for the sake of studs or filthy rich older men . <NEG> what's worse </NEG> is that the movie confirms all the above , and wallows in them as well . madonna's character is accused of forcing sex on the old goat when she knew darned well he had a heart condition . ( and yes , there are the obligatory cracks from the cops about how at least he died happy . this movie <NEG> leave no scummy stone unturned </NEG> . ) anyway . willem dafoe ( very good but completely wasted ) also stars as the lawyer who is doomed to run afoul of madonna's sexuality . how do we know this ? because his character is set up with the token wife and kids . how obvious is it that he's gonna cheat on her and have to fess everything up ? and get kicked out of the house ? and get welcomed back anyway ? don't skip to the end yet ; we're just getting warmed up . dafoe and madonna have a lot of sex in this movie . <NEG> most of it is about as erotic as open-heart surgery </NEG> , since it involves such goodies as hot candlewax ( always the kink of choice among screenwriters who don't know the first thing about * really * kinky sex ) and smashed light bulbs . <NEG> don't ask </NEG> . another thing that people are starting to realize about explicit sex in movies is that unless it is critically important to the story , <NEG> it's insanely dull </NEG> . what's worse is that body of evidence <NEG> is dull * everywhere * </NEG> , not just in the sex scenes . the stuff in the courtroom is recycled ninth-hand from other bad courtroom drama scenes . <NEG> the thriller business itself is ridiculous </NEG> -- it involves nasal spray bottles and drugs , and juergen prochnow as a surly doctor . and the ending -- another homage to eszterhas , maybe ? -- is one of those endings where you can almost see the exact * frame * where one of the five or six various endings to <NEG> this mess </NEG> was spliced in . the director is uli edel , <NEG> all the more disappointing </NEG> since he also directed the elegiac and powerful last exit to brooklyn and christiane f . everyone has to eat , i guess , but this isn't a meal ticket , <NEG> it's leftovers </NEG> .
