The misogyny is what makes this so terrible
It wasn't the acting that did this in. Madonna was meh. I couldn't tell if she really was acting and playing a caricature of a snobby, over privileged woman or playing herself. That's not what made this film so bad. What made this so bad for me was the misogyny. The message that he treats her like crap and then all is well when she kisses his feet and sleeps with him?
I thought the Mazzy Stardust part was sweet. However it wasn't enough to make up for the past hour and tweleve minutes where he hates her and treats her like crap.
Others might disagree but I think her ending up with her husband in the end was the right thing. Had she ended up with Pepe it would have still been tragic since we never got the impression that her husband was an evil man who treated her badly. Even when she was being an evil harpy (not something I think her husband had anything to do with) in the beginning I never got that he didn't love her. In fact he seemed to love her immensely enough to overlook how much of a bitch she was. Even when she was attacking him, he was always very "yes, dear" and didn't say a bad word against her. The movie also made it seem as if he was actively searching for her (not a trait of a man not in love with his wife). I don't think one month with Pepe was enough to overshadow however many years she had with her husband. In fact i was kind of pissed with the turn at the end where they tried to change his character as the last minute. It didn't fit.
Had the film given the impression that she was so much better off with Pepe and was truly in love with him it would have been a different story. But she was in dire circumstances, who knows how much of that month was false.
The other reason this movie was crap was the script. It started off as a comedy, turned into something completely different, tried to transition back into comedy, and then ended on tragedy/forbidden love?
I don't think it's fair to put all the blame on Madonna for this being so bad. Clearly she wasn't the worst part.
That said the scenery was beautiful, and the use of color was great. That was the only thing this movie had going for it. The cinematographer did a great job.
If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all