Ellie Parker

Scott Coffey's Life of A Lower-Rung Hollywood Nitwit, Ellie Parker, is interesting only as a showcase for the shape-shifter charms of Naomi Watts, a performing chameleon with an endless repertoire of faces (sultry, girlish, devious, ravishing, vacant). The film might actually be more worthwhile, and would certainly be more bearable, with the sound off, sparing us the interminable feather-headed nattering of its deliberately shallow, narcissistic characters, and allowing us to concentrate more fully on the thespic acrobatics of Watts, who, through the character of struggling, stubborn, wayward Ellie Parker, is afforded a chance to show off her near-freakish ability at sudden metamorphosis, going from harried phone-talking California twit to foul-mouthed gum-chomping Jersey girl and back, working the shift, the brakes like a race-car driver navigating the twists and turns of Watkins Glen. It's a show-off performance but Watts is not a show-off, she occupies the character of Ellie Parker fully, never tipping her hand. Her commitment to the role is commendable, her willingness to place herself in absurd situations, to unmask herself a little (some of Ellie's struggles are no doubt culled from Watts' own biography), but it's all in service of material that's not worthy of her, that cheapens her accomplishment, diminishes her. It's a thin gruel of a movie, lacking in insight, full of scenes that don't go anywhere, shot like a film student making an audition reel.

As someone that spent 18 years in the city of Angels, I have met many Ellie Parkers. I adored this little gem, albeit low budget movie, with some of best acting one could feast their eyes on. The scene with Ellie in the car in a complete hyped up, Star Bucks frenzy, smeared with lipstick, banging her head to Blondie and madly shouting out " I wanna suck Vinnie's ####'!!!" in her New Jersey accent, had me rolling on the floor.

For those that know nothing of the dashed dreams of Many desperate Hollywood starlets, and the pure sleaze these women encounter as they try to fulfill their dreams, forget it, you just won't 'get it'. LA is a town, of big talking wannabes and 'Ellie Parker' really led you into that world with it's fake facade and empty promises. Naomi Watts just shines as Ellie Parker. She totally engulfs the screen with her magical expressions of pain, joy, angst, fear, confusion and loneliness.

I felt very empty after the final scene, just as Ellie did. The City of Angels changes you, makes you selfish, egotistical, and almost insane. Ellie knew her pursuit of acting had caused her to become a shell of a person, and as a viewer I really felt her pain.

So it was shot with a cheap camera, big deal. The messages where there, contrary to what many other reviewers said, you just had to be sensitive enough to pick them up.

This film really transported me back to LA, and made me shudder, thanks 'Eliie parker' for reminding me why I left!

Well, ...(I am rather hesitant to say this)....but, I suspect that this film's audience are people who are already in some way connected to the business. (Of making films, that is). (It seems to me that the humour is mainly intended for them).

-0-

However, I also want to stress that I did find Naomi Watts' performance outstanding!

Up until now, (as far as I am concerned), Naomi Watts has been, basically, "a pretty face". (And a very pretty face it is)! ;-) But in this film she really showed that she is really and truly an *actress*! (And a very fine actress, actually)! -I was impressed!

Karl Barkarson,

-from Iceland

If you are a fan of Naomi Watts, as I have been since seeing her for the first time in Mulholland Drive, you will not want to miss Ellie Parker - a veritable tour de force for the actor, who gives us not a caricature but rather a sympathetic, flesh-and-blood, 3-dimensional human being whose plight pertains not only to the acting world but to anybody who has ever felt rejected, misunderstood and/or unappreciated by the world at large. This makes its audience much wider than merely the 'Hollywood community' without ever becoming preachy about it, which I especially liked. Some of the scenes feel completely improvised, which I also enjoyed, and her audition scene near the beginning is more than worth the price of admission alone.

I've always suspected that some movies make Sundance mainly because a famous Hollywood personality is involved. If said star chooses to make a low-budget non-commercial film, it warrants a free pass to the big dance based on risk-taking and "independent spirit." So it is with Ellie Parker, a movie produced by and starring Naomi Watts (and directed by actor Scott Coffey) about the travails of a young actress searching for her identity in L.A.'s shallow and artificial cultural wasteland. It is clear that it was made for industry insiders, who saw in it a painful mirror to their world. The rest of us enjoyed a few funny moments in a movie that had no apparent beginning, middle or end, no discernible plot, plenty of conflict but no resolution. I'm sure there was a point in all that depressing futility. To make it worse, it was shot on a Sony HD cam, so the quality was maybe a tad better than my home movies.

Ellie Parker would be useful if one were trying to thin the herd of aspiring actresses. Maybe they should show it in high schools, kind of like Reefer Madness 50 years ago.

By the way, Chevy Chase has a small and rather cryptic role as an agent. (The audience wasn't sure if he was trying to be serious or comedic.) I love Chevy Chase, but unlike his old SNL partner Dan Akroyd, he should stick to comedies. He gives a really dreadful performance. But he was refreshingly funny at the Sundance Q&A.