Ray of lies

The other day, I watched the Madonna documentary film "Truth or Dare". It was the first time I'd seen it since watching it in a theater when it came out back in 1991. At the time, I was one of the people suitably impressed with what an open and honest film it was and, as it doesn't always portray her in the best light, how bold and brave Madonna was for going through with it. Apparently, I was/am a chump.
At best, I'd say the film hasn't aged well (insert your own Madonna joke here). With the "benefit" of two decades of "reality television", it's pretty easy to spot situations that are contrived or manipulated for effect, and in the case of "Truth or Dare", that's almost all of it. Even (especially) the many, many scenes where Madonna comes off as a jerk.
I was never the world's biggest Madonna fan but I would pay attention to her antics. Plus, one of her back-up singers back then was Niki Harris, with whom I went to school (where she was known as Nicki Haire) and it was always cool to see her perform with somebody as big as Madonna. I respected her as a provocative, boundary-stretching artist and I was entertained by her pushing the buttons of all the rubes who just didn't "get" it. I guess I was one of those rubes all along.