Pop to flop: divas who died on screen

Madonna - Shanghai Surprise (1985), Shadows of the Fog (1992), Body of Evidence (1993), The Next Big Thing (1993), Swept Away (2002)

The Material Girl has a cast-iron resolve if nothing else. She's come back from more flops than can be listed here and still insists on mixing her undisputed pop talents with her less obvious acting prowess. We'll take her latest, and arguably biggest flop, as an example. In Swept Away, directed by hubby Guy Ritchie, Madge plays Amber, a 40-year-old, beautiful, spoiled, and arrogant playgirl. When her husband Tony takes her on a private cruise from Greece to Italy, Amber is unimpressed at this no-frills vacation, and takes out her anger on the ship's first mate, Giuseppe (Adriano Giannini). When a storm leaves the two shipwrecked on a desert island, however, the tables suddenly turn...

Killer Line: 'I did not fly all the way from New York City to wherever the f*** we are to get on that!'

Critical Damage: 'Amber, the pampered wife of a pharmaceutical magnate, is a kind of nightmare construction of Madonna's public image. She's a horror. If it were only just a little worse, Swept Away could have been a so-bad-it's-good classic.' - San Francisco Chronicle

Box Office: $1m

Kylie Minogue - Street Fighter (1994)

The girl with the best bum in pop chose a right duffer with this violent video game franchise. Kylie plays Cammie, one of a group of elite warriors led into combat by William F. Guile (Jean-Claude Van Damme), against an evil dictator.

Killer Line: Kylie: 'Cammie here, are you alright?'
Van Damme: 'Yes. I'm just half dead.'
Kylie: 'And Bison?'
Van Damme: 'All dead.'

Critical Damage: 'Kylie Minogue - the worst actress in the English-speaking world.' - Washington Post

Box Office: $35m