Jane Doe: Eye of the Beholder (2008 TV Movie) User Reviews

Actually one of the better episodes

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 4 June 2008]

I had to chuckle at the previous review of this - obviously, the reviewer isn't familiar with this series and therefore can't possibly know that this is one of the better entries. Cathy Davis (Lea Thompson)(Jane Doe in her role as a CSA agent) is called by Darnell (Joe Penny) to help investigate the theft of a $150 million Vermeer painting at a Los Angeles museum, which previously belonged to a Jewish family and was taken by the Nazis. The daughter in the family, the only survivor and now quite elderly, has sold the painting to the museum. Discovering what happened to the original involves an insurance agent (Elaine Hendrix), an art collector (Phil Casnoff) and a waitress (Julianna McCarthy), a neo-Nazi (Mark Rolston) and a few others. The plot isn't bad, though elements of it can be figured out.

The good thing about this episode is that there is very little of Cathy's banal family life - the fewer scenes at home, the better. If the series is to continue, let's hope that's a trend.

art mystery

[sarajimi · 7/10 · 31 March 2019]

My favorite part about it was that the main mystery wasn't a murder; no one seems to realize that crimes don't require killing these days. other than that, it was your usual hallmark fare, except the cops weren't as stupid as they are usually made out to be.

Fun entertainment

[LittleStorpingInTheSwuff · 7/10 · 5 June 2018]

By now anyone having watched the other movies in this series should realize it is merely fun entertainment and not meant to be a dramatic drams. It wasn't the best in the series, nor the worst. As far as taking the idea from "The Thomas Crown Affair" (I knew I had seen this plot somewhere but couldn't figure out where until I read a previous review) that was a trifle weak but still entertaining.

One thing that has always puzzled me about 'speeding down hill with no breaks' scenes: why don't any of those drivers have sense enough to simply jam the gear shift into reverse or park? Sure, it will tear the crap out of the transmission, but it will keep the car from going out of control and over the cliff and/or a deadly head on crash, won't it? I can't say for sure about automatic transmission, but I do know that with a manual transmission you can down shift a gear at a time and use the engine as a break.

Jane Doe: Eye of the Beholder

[JoBloTheMovieCritic · 6/10 · 20 July 2019]

6/10 - not nearly as good as some of the other Jane Doe mysteries

Smoke and mirrors

[Jackbv123 · 7/10 · 3 October 2020]

Things are not as simple as they seem at times in this story. Jane often sees beneath the surface. The missing piece is why the authenticator was killed. That was the best clue the characters had.

Sometimes in a movie or book, the writers give a clue by the scenes they show you. In this story there was one scene where entirely too much attention was paid to a certain thing and I immediately knew what the real mystery reveal was going to be at the end. I'm sure it is because I had seen or read that particular plot device before. (Perhaps it was the Thomas Crown Affair - I don't remember that movie well enough. Even if that idea was borrowed, it was a nice touch to the movie which had viewers looking in a different direction for most of it.)

The romance between Frank and Agnes was rushed. It would have worked better if the story had really played up some previous history between them.

Jane/Cathy is a likeable character. She's very smart and perceptive but also compassionate. The writers don't try to convince us that Jane is going to whoop anyone in a fight.

I'm not sure what crime they were going to convict Agnes of, especially if no one was going to press charges for stealing the fake. They definitely didn't have anything which would convict her of first degree murder. Maybe conspiracy, but that seems a stretch. Even more so with Hildy. It seems unlikely they could convince a jury of fraud if they couldn't find the original - she could easily deny knowing about it since she was merely the recipient of a painting that had been missing for decades from a time when Hildy was a child. Fortunately Jane's perceptive mind eliminated any problem for Hildy.

As much as I like to see at least one of the actors playing Cathy's family, I have to agree with the reviewer who said that playing down the family angle made this movie better.

Still, I found it entertaining for a TV movie especially on HMM.

Rip-off

[wildman1 · 1/10 · 15 January 2009]

The majority of this storyline has been copied from a MGM movie.

Please watch the remake of The Thomas Crown affair to understand just how lazy the writers have been in copying elements then substituting in poor dialogue.

Disgraceful that writers get away with this!

For the record I do not watch the show but it was left on between channel flicking when I started to notice mild references which caught my attention. They even mention Piece Brosnan.

Truly cringe worthy, please watch TTCA to fully appreciate my annoyance.

Light years ahead of what Hallmark puts out these days.

[rightisright · 9/10 · 14 April 2019]

Although this movie is just over ten years old now, it is leaps and bounds better than what Hallmark is putting on Sunday night these days. The writing and acting is just superb. Of course you start with the amazing Lea Thompson. Add in Joe Penny as her co star and William Moses as her husband. And that's just the regulars. Elaine Hendrix is just fabulous along with the great Jesse Schram. Compare all of these actors to the wooden faced stars that Hallmark uses now.

Jane Doe-Keep Her Anonymous *1/2

[edwagreen · 4/10 · 18 January 2008]

Muddled story with stolen art, American Nazis, and an entire host of things included.

Despite a stellar cast, the film suffers from constant confusion. Why was that art dealer killed? Would we actually think that an elderly Holocaust survivor was trying to fool people with the Veneer portrait? Do we have to be told that villain Philip Casnoff is thrown off the helicopter he flees to? Since when does a blonde dish have the name of Agnes? What an art investigator she is!

Lea Thompson directed and starred in this mess as a housewife who goes on student field trips and also doubles as a secret agent. The mixing of the two is hard to believe as well as realize here. Thompson always has that bit of anger on her face when she is acting. I can't blame her here given the material that she has to work with.

Joe Penny, as the cop Frank, is taken in by Agnes, Elaine Hendrix, and he looks entirely confused by all this.

Nice seeing William R. Moses in the part of Thompson's husband. Remember him in Perry Mason? I always wondered what became of him. He is given so little to do in this film.