Eye of the Beholder ** (1999, Ewan McGregor, Ashley Judd, k d lang, Genevieve Bujold, Patrick Bergin, Jason Priestley) – Classic Movie Review 3035

Writer/director Stephan Elliott’s 1999 film Eye of the Beholder stars Ewan McGregor, whose fans are in for another disappointment (after Nora) in this mystery thriller tale of a British secret agent in America, who spies on the lovely Joanna (Ashley Judd), a slippery femme fatale lady always ready with a handy disguise and a murder weapon.

The twist is that the investigator Detective Stephen Wilson has lost his marbles and the female serial killer reminds him of his missing daughter, whose voices tell him to save Joanna. This crazy movie starts with a great head of steam and an over-load of invention, with lots of intrigue and interest being stirred up by the spying game and the cat-and-mouse chase, as the characters hit the road across America.

The two handsome leads give very attractive, compelling performances and the intelligent, idea-crammed film’s visual style is startling (appropriately since McGregor’s character is called The Eye). But, alas and alack, it turns out that the movie is on the road to nowhere, and it just collapses in a heap of nothing in an Alaskan diner in its last 15 minutes.

Along the way though, the crazily surreal plot also takes in k d lang as the spy phone contact Hilary, Geneviève Bujold as a reform-school doctor, Dr Jeanne Brault, Patrick Bergin as a blind lover, Alexander Leonard, and nice Jason Priestley as a Mr Nasty, called Gary. With such tasty ingredients, it couldda been a contender.

Stephan Elliott writes the screenplay from Marc Behm’s novel The Eye of the Beholder and the film is a remake of Claude Miller’s 1983 French thriller Mortelle Randonnée [Deadly Run] [Deadly Circuit] .

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 3035

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