On October 9 2002, Entertainment Weekly published a review of Swept Away after screening the film at the Vista Theatre in Los Angeles on October 7.

Family and friends (and some celebrities) at the premiere included: Donna and Niki, Guy Oseary, Demi Moore, Claudia Schiffer, Matthew Vaughn, Debi Mazar, Herb Ritts, Joe Henry and Madonna’s sister Melanie.

Here’s a snippet of the review:

Drawn, lacquered, and just about as tanned as Goldmember, Madonna, in Swept Away, appears blowsy and middle-aged, and the hard character of experience does something for her. It allows her to leave vanity aside. (Either that, or her vanity now resides in her biceps, which are sinewy enough to strangle a panther.) Sound the trumpets: For the first time since Desperately Seeking Susan, Madonna doesn’t suck as an actress. In a movie career that is by now nearly as benighted as that of Linda Blair or Maria Montez, she comes through with a performance in which her line readings don’t clatter like broken plates, and she looks at least half as relaxed as she does on stage.