Ebert and Roper At the Movies review
EBERT & ROEPER
TRANSCRIPT OF “ELLIE PARKER” REVIEW
TAPE DATE: 11-16-05
AIR DATE: 11-26-05
ROGER EBERT: Our next movie stars Naomi Watts in a day in the life of a would-be Hollywood actress named Ellie Parker. We have seen this sort of backstage material before, but rarely this raw, revealing and in a way actually courageous I think. Watts plays a woman who is pretty, smart and has talent, and is being ground down by a system that treats people as interchangeable commodities. Her own bad habits don’t help her any. Here she is auditioning for a movie that is obviously doomed, and obviously being produced by idiots.
CLIP
ROGER: In the car on the way to her next audition, she puts on different makeup and practices obscene dialogue to play a hooker and then she gets rear-ended in a reality based version of a Meet Cute.
CLIP
ROGER: That’s Scott Coffey, the film's director and writer, playing the careless driver. The movie covers an around-the-clock existence of auditions, drugs, parties, clubs, romance, despair, theory, psychoanalysis and exhaustion. Watts is at the center of every scene, in a performance that perfectly suits the hand-held, improvised tone of the film. “Ellie Parker” reminds you that every good performance is kind of a miracle, since it has to survive this kind of obstacle course. This isn’t a documentary, but it feels like one – it feels like a good one.
RICHARD ROEPER: Yeah thumbs up for me as well Roger. You know there was a movie earlier this year called “Dirty Love” with Jenny McCarthy and she threw herself out there in ways that defy description and it was awful. This has some certain elements that reflect that but it’s done in such a better way. I mean the Naomi Watts character, I mean, she gets drunk, she gets high, she has embarrassing sex, she throws up. A lot of the things that happened to the Jenny McCarthy character happen here but it’s just played in a more authentic level. And I really think her performance carries this film because it does look pretty; it looks like it was made for a buck and a half, you know?
ROGER: Yeah I think it was actually made over a period of years as they got money or time to do it. But what she does here is really create this character somebody who is brave and who is out there and who is trying…
RICHARD: Yeah.
ROGER: …and who has the talent actually to be good if she ever gets the chance but will she ever get a chance in this world that surrounds her?
RICHARD: Probably not. And there’s a nice cameo by Chevy Chase…
ROGER: Yes. He is great here.
RICHARD: …as her manger.
**************************************************************************************
THE CRITICS’ JOINT COMMENT FROM THE PROGRAM SUMMARY
RICHARD: Okay, recapping the movies on this week's show:
Two thumbs up for “RENT.” Two thumbs way up for Naomi Watts in “ELLIE PARKER.” Two thumbs down, way down I would say…
ROGER: Way down.
RICHARD: … for “JUST FRIENDS.” Two thumbs way down again…
ROGER: Way down.
RICHARD: … for “YOURS, MINE & OURS” which is bad on all levels. Two thumbs up for “THE ICE HARVEST.” And two thumbs up for “DUANE HOPWOOD” it’s opening in selected markets and look for it.
ROGER: Yes. And also in theaters this weekend is “IN THE MIX” starring the singer Usher. But unfortunately the studio decided not to show this movie for critics and therefore it gets the dreaded wagging finger of shame.
RICHARD: They keep doing this, I don’t know why. We’d love to show you the Usher. Lot of the kids they love the Usher. They love the music of the Usher but we can’t show you the Usher’s movie.
ROGER: No Usher.
********************************************************************************************
TRANSCRIPT OF “ELLIE PARKER” REVIEW
TAPE DATE: 11-16-05
AIR DATE: 11-26-05
ROGER EBERT: Our next movie stars Naomi Watts in a day in the life of a would-be Hollywood actress named Ellie Parker. We have seen this sort of backstage material before, but rarely this raw, revealing and in a way actually courageous I think. Watts plays a woman who is pretty, smart and has talent, and is being ground down by a system that treats people as interchangeable commodities. Her own bad habits don’t help her any. Here she is auditioning for a movie that is obviously doomed, and obviously being produced by idiots.
CLIP
ROGER: In the car on the way to her next audition, she puts on different makeup and practices obscene dialogue to play a hooker and then she gets rear-ended in a reality based version of a Meet Cute.
CLIP
ROGER: That’s Scott Coffey, the film's director and writer, playing the careless driver. The movie covers an around-the-clock existence of auditions, drugs, parties, clubs, romance, despair, theory, psychoanalysis and exhaustion. Watts is at the center of every scene, in a performance that perfectly suits the hand-held, improvised tone of the film. “Ellie Parker” reminds you that every good performance is kind of a miracle, since it has to survive this kind of obstacle course. This isn’t a documentary, but it feels like one – it feels like a good one.
RICHARD ROEPER: Yeah thumbs up for me as well Roger. You know there was a movie earlier this year called “Dirty Love” with Jenny McCarthy and she threw herself out there in ways that defy description and it was awful. This has some certain elements that reflect that but it’s done in such a better way. I mean the Naomi Watts character, I mean, she gets drunk, she gets high, she has embarrassing sex, she throws up. A lot of the things that happened to the Jenny McCarthy character happen here but it’s just played in a more authentic level. And I really think her performance carries this film because it does look pretty; it looks like it was made for a buck and a half, you know?
ROGER: Yeah I think it was actually made over a period of years as they got money or time to do it. But what she does here is really create this character somebody who is brave and who is out there and who is trying…
RICHARD: Yeah.
ROGER: …and who has the talent actually to be good if she ever gets the chance but will she ever get a chance in this world that surrounds her?
RICHARD: Probably not. And there’s a nice cameo by Chevy Chase…
ROGER: Yes. He is great here.
RICHARD: …as her manger.
**************************************************************************************
THE CRITICS’ JOINT COMMENT FROM THE PROGRAM SUMMARY
RICHARD: Okay, recapping the movies on this week's show:
Two thumbs up for “RENT.” Two thumbs way up for Naomi Watts in “ELLIE PARKER.” Two thumbs down, way down I would say…
ROGER: Way down.
RICHARD: … for “JUST FRIENDS.” Two thumbs way down again…
ROGER: Way down.
RICHARD: … for “YOURS, MINE & OURS” which is bad on all levels. Two thumbs up for “THE ICE HARVEST.” And two thumbs up for “DUANE HOPWOOD” it’s opening in selected markets and look for it.
ROGER: Yes. And also in theaters this weekend is “IN THE MIX” starring the singer Usher. But unfortunately the studio decided not to show this movie for critics and therefore it gets the dreaded wagging finger of shame.
RICHARD: They keep doing this, I don’t know why. We’d love to show you the Usher. Lot of the kids they love the Usher. They love the music of the Usher but we can’t show you the Usher’s movie.
ROGER: No Usher.
********************************************************************************************
posted by EP at 11:00 AM
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