Roger Ebert, of the "Chicago Sun-Times", who called the original "Swept Away" such an "absorbing movie" that he bestowed with a 4-out-of-4 star rating, gave the remake only 1 star. According to Ebert, despite Ritchie's relatively faithful adaptation, the original "Swept Away" was "incomparably superior," and the remake's fatal flaw was the "utterly missing" vitality or emotional resonance of the main characters. Additionally, wrote Ebert, Madonna's character "starts out so hateful that she can never really turn it around" and gain any redemption or believable change. Similarly, A.O. Scott of "The New York Times" wrote, "In her concerts, music videos and recordings, Madonna has often been a mesmerizing performer, but she is still not much of an actress. Striking a pose is not the same as embodying a person, and a role like this one requires the surrender of emotional control, something Madonna seems constitutionally unable to achieve." In his otherwise negative review of the film, Slant Magazine critic Ed Gonzalez said: "Madonna gives her best performance since Abel Ferrara had her beaten to a pulp in his "Dangerous Game"."