have you ever been in an automobile accident where you 've miraculously walked away with only a few scratches , yet the car has been obliterated into an unrecognizable , mangled wreck ?
well , that has never actually happened to me and i hope that none of us will ever experience this situation .
but
after watching this inane exercise of a movie , i certainly feel that i 've miraculously walked away unscathed after a two - hour ride that mercilessly careens back and forth before finally plummeting into an icy pond .
oddly , ` eye of the beholder , ' which is a psychological - romance - thriller , starts off promisingly enough when the opening sequence introduces us to a british intelligence agent , called the eye ( ewan mcgregor ) , working in washington dc .
in the humorous opening scene , he eyes a top lawyer across the street in his office with his pants down . using an array of high - tech surveillance and communications equipment , he proceeds to transmit pictures of the bared lawyer to pc screens and fax machines in his office .
the law firm 's employees get a good chuckle .
the audience gets a good chuckle .
the eye is later given an assignment where he encounters a beautiful woman ( ashley judd ) .
there is something compelling about this mysterious woman .
despite her glamorous looks , however , we learn that she is a psychopath with a propensity to kill men that get too close to her .
after the murders , she sobs while singing the christmas tune ` little bluebirds ' and laments about being abandoned by her father long ago .
after each killing , she puts on a different wig , assumes a new name , and then makes her way to another state .
the eye has witnessed all her murderous transgressions .
but he does not alert the authorities .
he somehow empathizes with her sense of loss .
the eye , it turns out , also is haunted by his past .
his daughter was taken away from him and he anguishes this loss every day of his life .
his tormented psyche creates a ghost - like image of his daughter with which he engages in conversation .
she becomes a sort of spectral adviser , and one thing that the ghostly daughter says is that he must help the woman .
he now diverts his energies into trying to help her find some kind of salvation .
it does n't matter that he has witnessed all of her murders .
and it does n't matter that the eye is abnormally reticent , hiding his entire life behind computer screens .
he follows her to a dozen different locales and shadows her every move to keep her out of trouble .
when a crazed druggie ( jason priestley ) attacks her , he shows up for some quick butt kicking .
when the police are closing in to arrest her , he provides a distraction so that she can escape .
all the while , the woman has no idea who her guardian angel is and the eye stays just out of sight .
peculiar .
how bad is this movie ?
i refer you to my ` review quote source ' litmus test .
just take a look at the full - page ad in the newspaper and see where they are pulling quotes .
for this movie , they are from magazines called ` flaunt ' and ` mirabella . '
no doubt , they were impressed with judd 's series of catwalks and disguise changes .
the major problem with ` eye of the beholder ' is that the film jerks forward , always unsure of its ultimate destination .
if it was a thriller , there was little to keep us entranced .
if it was a love story , there was absolutely no emotional pull .
completely disjointed in structure , it 's only saving grace was its stylish look which reminded me of my favorite car commercial ( the one where the ` 6 ' on the tachometer dissolves into a winding road and a passenger rail car dissolves into a small miniature on a child 's train set ) .
i am also still hopeful that ashley judd will find a serious role to showcase her potential talents .
beyond that , the film is hopelessly out - of - control and is in need of seriously better traction and handling .
the film is hopelessly out - of - control after watching this inane exercise of a movie there was little to keep us entranced mercilessly careens back and forth before finally plummeting into an icy pond there was absolutely no emotional pull disjointed the film jerks forward , always unsure of its ultimate destination how bad is this movie ? the major problem