A funny thing happened on the way to the bus station.


A year after appearing in the box-office sleeper Shanghai Surprise, pop superstar Madonna starred in the screwball comedy Who's That Girl? She plays Nikki Finn, who is being released from prison after serving a four-year sentence for a murder she didn't commit. Meanwhile, wealthy lawyer Loudon (Griffin Dunne) is about to get married that afternoon to the snobby Wendy (Haviland Morris), the daughter of Simon Worthington (John McMartin). Worthington does not approve of the wedding and he wants Nikki out of town as soon as possible, so he sends Loudon to collect Nikki and take her to the bus station. Instead, the flamboyant Nikki seeks her revenge while trying to find out what happened to her friend Johnny, which causes Loudon a lot of trouble. Naturally, wild action ensues -- some of it involving an escaped Cougar belonging to Loudon's boss, the millionaire animal collector Montgomery Bell (John Mills) -- and Loudon having to choose between the prim Wendy and the unpredictable Nikki.

Who's That Girl is a 1987 American romantic comedy film written by Andrew Smith and Ken Finkleman, and directed by James Foley. It stars Madonna and Griffin Dunne, and depicts the story of a street-smart girl, who is falsely accused of murdering her boyfriend and is sent to jail. After getting released, she meets a man, who is supposed to make sure she gets on her bus back to Philadelphia, and convinces him to help her catch those responsible for her confinement. While searching for the embezzler, they fall in love with each other.

After the box-office failure of her 1986 film Shanghai Surprise, Madonna decided to sign another comedy film titled Slammer, which was later renamed to Who's That Girl. However, she had to convince both Warner Bros. and the producers of the film that she was ready for the project. Madonna enlisted her friend James Foley to direct the film. Shooting began in New York in October 1986, and continued until March 1987. Production was halted during December due to snowfall in New York. Madonna utilized the time to work on her next tour and the soundtrack of the film.

The film, released on August 8, 1987, ended up being a critical and commercial failure. It grossed $2.5 million in its first week, while its worldwide total was about $7.3 million, most of it coming from European markets. Reviewers were highly disappointed with the film, and Foley's direction. Some went on to call it one of the worst films to be released, while others found Madonna's comic timing to be one of the highlights.

However, the Who's That Girl World Tour went on to be a critical and commercial success, grossing a total of US $25 million, and playing in front of 1.5 million audiences. And the soundtrack of the film, though not acclaimed by the critics, enjoyed commercial success. Three of Madonna's songs were released as singles—the title track, "Causing a Commotion" and "The Look of Love", and the album went on to sell six million copies worldwide.

The film received negative reviews from critics, and has a rating of 23% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.[31] Vincent Canby from The New York Times noted that Madonna, left to her own devices and her own canny pace, is a very engaging comedian. "When Madonna's no-nonsense pragmatism isn't being twisted into poses of lovable eccentricity, the actress is sexy and funny and never for a minute sentimental. At times she looks amazingly like Marilyn Monroe, but the personality is her own, more resilient and more knowing. As the WASP-y sleeping prince, Mr. Dunne gives the most stylishly comic performance of a career that's been largely underrated by the public. Though he seems to be Madonna's foil, he provides the movie with its backbone, even in its most ludicrous moments. He may well be one of the most truly sophisticated straight men in the business today." However, he ended the review by saying that the film was short on outright guffaws.[32] Hal Hinson of The Washington Post gave to the film a mixed review, commenting that "you may not feel as if you've seen a movie. You may not quite know what you've seen" and that although he laughed too much, the film "is outrageously inept, but not in a routine manner". Hinson also criticized the work of Foley, noting that he "doesn't have the skill to sustain a cartoon style."[33] Philip Wuntch from The Dallas Morning News commented that the film is a deft and daffy comedy performance; Madonna is great with the one-liners. [...] As a movie star, Madonna may be an acquired taste. But one thing is certain: acquiring this particular taste is going to be an enjoyable experience."[34] Jay Boyar from Orlando Sentinel gave a negative review saying, "Luckily for her, Madonna can sing, and use it to save herself from this disgrace of a movie."[35]

Jamie Waylett from The Advocate was more critical, saying "Madonna delivers the worst performance in recent memory as the heroine of an attempt at screwball comedy. Watching her try to look like Marilyn Monroe and sound like Betty Boop, though, is a sure sign that this film was a disaster in the making. At the same time, it seems inconceivable that anyone would sit down and plan something so dreadful."[36] Carole Kass from Richmond Times-Dispatch felt that since "Madonna is the idol of teen-agers. If they imitate her hair and her makeup, these 'wanna-bes' who want to be like Madonna and dress like Madonna may be cute. But, as a popular personality, Madonna has a responsibility to her fans. And shoplifting is something not to promote. Nor is smoking."[37] Dan Dinicola from The Schenectady Gazette felt that "Who's That Girl is not simply an awful film, it is positively unbearable. It's a movie without a head or a brain, a picture of such crass stupidity that it can't even make you angry. Instead it numbs you to death with its moronic platitudes, its pretensions to comedy. [...] It's a vanity project which is so amateurly produced and conceived that it makes you want to cringe in shame. [...] Madonna is no more than a novelty item."[38] Johanna Steinmetz from Chicago Tribune complimented Dunne's acting and said: "Fortunately the film has Griffin Dunne. Dunne, working in a domain once ruled by Cary Grant, manages to be stuffy, naive and vulnerable but never undignified as Loudon Trott, the New York lawyer."[39] Jean Rosenbluth from Rolling Stone was harsh about the film, saying "The question posed by the film's title was Who's that girl? The answer provided by the box-office receipts was, alas, 'The same one who appeared in Shanghai Surprise and bored us to death'."[40]

The picture was the recipient of four Razzie Award nominations, including Worst Director of the Year, Worst Song of the Year, Worst Screenplay of the Year and Worst Picture of the Year, and one win for Madonna in the category of Worst Actress of the Year award.[41]

The film was released to a total of 944 theatres, with an extra 66 being added later.[42] In its opening weekend, the film grossed $2.5 million ($5,189,660 in 2014 dollars[43]), becoming the tenth highest grossing film of that week.[44] The next week it had a 60% decline in sales. The film grossed a total of $7.3 million ($15,153,808 in 2014 dollars[43]) worldwide, and was a box office failure.[45][46] It was placed at 97 on the top 100 movies of 1987 list.[45] Morton noted that although "Madonna's comic talent was acknowledged, cinemagoers in the United States stayed away in droves."[47] The film was better accepted in the foreign released territories, prompting Madonna to defend herself, rather weakly, that her ideas were better accepted in Europe and Japan, rather than her home country.[47] She added, "I think the movie did badly in America because I upstaged it with my tour. People were confused about the connection between the record, the tour and the movie because they all had the same title. I also think there are people who don't want me to do well in both fields. I had to really fight to get any respect from the music business and now I guess there are some people who feel that I ought to be grateful for that respect and stick to music."[48] Nevertheless, Warner Bros. decided to release the film in home media in VHS on November 1, 1987, a decision not approved by Madonna.[49]

Foley accepted the failure of the film saying, "I knew it was doomed before even filming started. The day before the first shoot, I sat in my hotel and looked to the script thinking, 'Damn, wish I could re-write this whole thing.' After the film released, my dad called me up saying 'you know The New York Times are calling it the worst film of the year." He recalled that both he and Madonna chose to overlook the failure of the film, and remembered one incident when he met Madonna at a hotel lobby. "She just looked to me once and said, 'So it's a flop right?' That's the only time she ever mentioned the film. Even Sean also never mentioned it in front of her."[50] In another article in The New York Times, Vincent Canby noted that Madonna's real personality is of a "knowing, shrewd, pragmatic young woman, a performer of invigorating energy who still looks a lot like Marilyn Monroe, even with short hair, but who has much more in common with the enthusiastic, unembarrassed, comic tartness of Jean Harlow, somehow let loose on the streets of New York in the 80's." However, he felt that Who's That Girl failed to portray that image, leading to its failure.[18] The first half of the film showed a different personality of Madonna, trying to be comical, which was not accepted by the public.[42]

Release Date: August 7, 1987

Distrib: Warner Brothers

Boxoffice: $7,305,209 2014: $15,227,000