February 3, 2000
Web posted at: 12:44 p.m. EST (1744 GMT)

By Reviewer Paul Tatara

(CNN) -- Ashley Judd is a modern-day rarity, a drop-dead gorgeous actress who's also very talented. But Hollywood, with its chronic inability to see beyond mere flesh, seems intent on forcing her into the Demi Moore mold, rather than letting her naturally blossom into Julianne Moore.

Demi, you may recall, looks good in her underwear and will appear in just about anything that features chewable passions and too much electronic music. Julianne is selective with her scripts and shades her performances in ways that don't rely on eye shadow.

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It's disheartening to see Judd pop up in excessively commercial doggerel so often, and her latest film, "Eye of the Beholder," couldn't be much doggier. A pseudo-Hitchcockian jumble of obsession and ham-fisted psycho-symbolism, it's easily the lousiest movie she's ever appeared in. If she's looking for better parts, her next one should do the trick. From the vantage point of "Eye of the Beholder," there's nowhere to go but up.

The worst thing that ever happened to Judd was the recent, unexpected success of her by-the-numbers revenge thriller, "Double Jeopardy." "Eye of the Beholder" was actually filmed in early 1998, then sat on its haunches until somebody could come up with a clever reason to release it.

I'd be willing to bet that the reason was the box office of "Double Jeopardy," and now half the United States will expect poor Ashley to wave weaponry every time she appears on screen. Folks who only responded to her for the first time in "Double Jeopardy" may drool over "Eye of the Beholder." Judd not only plugs a guy with a .45, she also stabs one in the back with a bread knife while wearing nothing but an imported bra-and-panty set.

She looks like prime real estate while doing this, of course, but that doesn't offset the inherent absurdity of her situation.

"Eye of the Beholder" is laced with absurdities, most of which stem from director Stephan Elliot's conviction that it's a deep, dark, disturbing action picture rather than a bunch of gadget-heavy hokum. It's repetitive, and the pace is sluggish. Character motivation is supplied through laughably Freudian mumbo-jumbo. And Judd's co-star, Ewan McGregor, plays the least appealing "hero" that you'll ever see.

McGregor is a bedraggled British spy known simply as The Eye. Hardly James Bond, The Eye looks more like a New York club kid who's struggling to pay his rent. He receives assignments via picture-phone from his connection back at headquarters. The connection is played, for no apparent reason, by singer k.d. lang. Every time you see her sitting there with her headset on, you can't help but think, "Hey! It's k.d. lang!" The pointless stunt casting is nothing but a distraction. But this movie needs them.

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McGregor's character is following his boss's son, who may be stealing large sums of money from Daddy. The Eye is a whiz with surveillance equipment. One night he's watching when the would-be embezzler is stabbed to death by a beautiful, panty-wearing movie star. Guess Who. Judd walks outside and lets the rain wash the blood from her low-fat chassis, all the time crying "Daddy! Merry Christmas! Daaaaddyyy!"

This is supposed to trigger an unhealthy obsession in McGregor, as opposed to the utter revulsion that you and I would fall into. He'll now stalk her to scenic locations around the country, growing increasingly fascinated with her tendency to wear disguises, murder people and take off her clothes.

The idea is that The Eye is just as screwed up as the murderess. We're supposed to grow alarmed because he gets crazier and crazier as he dives into the obsession, but he seems pretty darn crazy from the get-go. Most of his conversations are directed at his obnoxious little daughter, who berates him at home and jumps rope in the train terminal while he follows Judd. The little girl isn't really there. She's just a figment of The Eye's imagination, having left a long time ago with her fleeing mother. But that doesn't stop him from buying the girl a souvenir snow globe every time "they" enter a new city.

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There are so many layers of supposedly deep psychological goofiness muddying the waters, it's impossible to care when McGregor and Judd finally manage to meet up.

Jason Priestly, incredibly enough, is quite intimidating as a drug-addicted drifter who beats Judd to a very bloody pulp. This guy may actually be an actor! But the key supporting character has to be Genevieve Bujold as a prison psychologist who helped turn Judd into the inventive little murderess that The Eye is now so infatuated with.

The scene when Bujold explains her bizarre behavioral theories to McGregor is a mind-blower. Let's just say that both the cheese and the olive have slipped from the character's cracker, to a degree that suggests a straight-jacket is in order rather than a sharp business suit.

Is it way too early to say that this is the worst movie of the year? Rest assured that, at the very least, it'll have a table waiting in my 10 worst list for the year 2000.

"Eye of the Beholder" contains nudity, violence and bad language. Come on, guys. Judd needs a real role. And McGregor is increasingly looking like he just needs a bath. A movie first: There are more snow globes in this film than there are intelligent lines of dialogue. Rated R.