Madonna has made a career out of toying with image and ego, but this is a vanity project in the smallest sense possible.
Comment
10/24/08
Filth and Wisdom (2008)
28
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:54
Fresh:15
Rotten:39
Average Rating:4.1/10
Consensus: Filth and Wisdom, while certainly ambitious, is mostly unconvincing and incoherent.
Theatrical Release:Oct 17, 2008 Limited
Synopsis: Madonna's directorial debut, Filth and Wisdom, is a hilariously sexy tale of three roommates who must delve into mischievous and naughty behavior in pursuit of bigger and brighter futures. A... [More]
Starring: Eugene Hutz, Holly Weston, Vicky McClure, Richard E. Grant
Director: Madonna
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Reviews for Filth and Wisdom
Madonna shoots it all like a home movie made by someone who has been on the other side of the camera so often, doing music videos, reality no longer feels remotely real.
10/24/08
Top CriticIt may be the single most disastrous film perpetrated by a musical icon since Paul McCartney made "Give My Regards to Broad Street."
10/24/08
Impossibly arty and, at times, narratively incoherent, Filth and Wisdom still has its goofy charms.
10/23/08
Madonna fans will probably want to go anyway -- hey, I can't stop you -- but I can tell you that the movie delivers on neither of the promises of its title.
10/23/08
Taken as an argument for better living through hedonism, 'Filth and Wisdom' is unconvincing. In the end, it begs the question posed by a pop sensation of a different era: Is that all there is?
10/23/08
Madonna, making her directorial debut, aims for the romping irreverence of Richard Lester's 60s comedies, and though she lacks the formal control to pull it off, this is a charming mess.
10/23/08
This is a very deeply non-caring movie. I liked Hutz when he sang. I imagine Gene Shalit ate his heart out when he saw Hutz's moustache.
10/23/08
Top CriticFor there to be balance in the universe, good movies must alternate with bad ones. This is obviously one of the latter.
10/23/08
Leave it to the Material Girl to confound all knife-sharpened expectations, even in mediocrity.
10/22/08
Not surprisingly, the musical selections are fittingly raw but with the exception of supporting actress Francesca Kingdon everything about the film is amateurish.
10/18/08
While Filth And Wisdom may not quite inhabit the same Hall of Shame as Shanghai Surprise, Body of Evidence and (God save us) Swept Away, it's likely to be forgotten as quickly as most of them.
10/18/08
Paying audiences aren't usually subjected to projects this amateurish.
10/18/08
Despite its many shortcomings and an ending so mushy and neat it would embarrass Richard Curtis, Madonna has done herself proud.
10/18/08
I sort of liked it.
10/17/08
Top CriticFilth and Wisdom is pretentious and structurally flawed, never truly coming together as a coherent work.
10/17/08
Thoroughly inept in just about every aspect.
10/17/08
Top CriticUniformly badly acted down to a loaf of bread, this eye-bleedingly stupid and witless movie is proof that just because someone is considered an icon doesn't mean she should be allowed near movie cameras.
10/17/08
Most of it seems like pointless goofing around, offering lots of filth and very little semblance of wisdom.
10/17/08
As narrator-star Eugene Hutz puts it, "Without filth, there can be no wisdom." As deep thoughts go, this seems too feeble to provoke much in the way of actual thought, let alone to hang a movie on.
10/17/08
Latest News for Filth and Wisdom
October 05, 2008:
Trailer & Poster review 
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April 17, 2008:
IFC grabs Madonna's Filth and Wisdom
IFC has secured North American rights to Madonna's directorial debut, "Filth and Wisdom." More...
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