Main Cast: Madonna, Warren Beatty, Sandra Bernhard
Release Year: 1991
Country: US
Run Time: 118 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Truth or Dare is an outrageous, insightful, carefully controlled and (to non-fans) overlong documentary of singer Madonna's 1990 Blonde Ambition tour. Though much of the film is a paean to self-love and self-aggrandizement, we are permitted to see Madonna at her worst as well as her best. Just when the audience is on the verge of giving up the flamboyant vocalist as a bad job, she displays a sudden attack of sensitivity, such as her protective attitude towards a timid homosexual in her troupe. Among the many celebrities who poke their heads into the proceedings are Warren Beatty, Sandra Bernhard, and Kevin Costner, who makes the fatal error of coming backstage to tell Madonna that he thinks she's "neat." If you've had your fill of the Material Girl, take a look at the parody documentary starring MTV's Julie Brown, Medusa: Dare to Be Truthful. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Madonna is at her most outrageous in Truth or Dare, a documentary that reveals a lot about the star and her world, almost in spite of herself. The film follows the singer's "Blonde Ambition" tour, and for much of the trip, the singer is in master-manipulator mode. Director Alek Keshishian subjects her to prolonged exposure, however, allowing the gears behind her public persona to begin to show. Her fascinating struggle to present a front at all times makes for some of the movie's most interesting moments, the most infamous being then-boyfriend Warren Beatty's facetious query, "Why say anything if it's not on camera?" In this respect, Truth is something of a sociological treatise on the disease of anonymity. Keshishian's straightforward style allows a number of readings: he may flatter The Material Girl, but he also manages to do something much more complicated and engaging. ~ Brendon Hanley, All Movie Guide
