Now don’t get us wrong. We’re not about to hail the Material Girl as the next Meryl Streep. However, neither are we ready to follow the lead of every other cynical, jaded hack and dismiss Madonna Louise Ciccone as an upstart who doesn’t know one end of the camera from the other. Yes, a lot of her big-screen outings have been fatally compromised by poor scripts, studio interference and a worrying uncertainty of purpose. But as tempting as it is to heap all the blame for their failure on her well-toned shoulders, we’re not going to. Because quite frankly, Madonna is a much better actress than she’s given credit for.