Elliott compensates for the dramatic void with a resolutely artsy treatment, so that the movie abounds in eye-catching compositions and flashy set design. Despite the familiar neo-noir story line, Eye and Joanna have practically no contact until very late in the movie, so that most of the film consists of us watching Eye as he watches Joanna. Unable to bring himself to apprehend her, he becomes something like her guardian angel, looking after her and even abetting her escapes from the law.Įye is not the kinky sex thriller its TV ads make it out to be, but neither is it the Antonioniesque exploration of inner landscapes that it tries to be at its most pretentious. (She drinks only cognac, smokes only Gitanes.) Eye begins to follow the mystery woman around the country, and gradually he transfers his yearning for his lost daughter onto her. In the course of a routine investigation, Eye unexpectedly witnesses a brutal murder committed by Joanna Eris (Ashley Judd), a young woman who is more a mysterious blend of tics than she is a person. Eye’s wife has left him – he was too devoted to his work, we are told – and taken their daughter with her, leaving him to live as a semi-recluse. The story involves a British surveillance agent, code-named 'Eye' (Ewan McGregor), who mixes his personal life with his work in an unhealthy way. Working in a genre that can be wildly entertaining and artistically satisfying at the same time, Eye somehow manages to be neither. MORE: See What the Cast of ‘The Secret World of Alex Mack’ Is up to Now! Why did Grandma’s Boy get pulled from theaters?Ī “good” movies lies in the eye of the beholder! The stoner movie didn’t do too well in theaters, barely grossing $6 million during its original theatrical release, but, made over $50 million in DVD sales.Eye of the Beholder, the arty suspense flick from writer-director Stephan Elliott ( The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert), is so hyper-conscious of its own movie-ness that it’s hard to care very much about the characters moving listlessly through its scenery.

He claimed that he “couldn’t feel his legs” and needed to go to the hospital after filming. In a Reddit interview with fans and Allen Covert, the movie’s leading man and co-writer “pleads the fifth” on knowing anything about Nick Swardson switching the fakes stuff for the real stuff during the grandmas scene, but says he used “fake weed that tasted like rope.” And Peter Dante, the method actor that he is, went for the real stuff to stay true to his character Dante. Ummm, did Grandma’s Boy use real weed on-set?ĭepends on who you ask (and who can remember).

Eye of the beholder documentary