Los Angeles Times review
LOS ANGLES TIMES
MOVIE REVIEW
'Ellie Parker'
Five years in the making, Scott Coffey's labor of love with Naomi Watts is a
fresh take on the plight of a struggling actress.
'Ellie Parker'
By Kevin Thomas, Times Staff Writer
Five years ago, actor-director Scott Coffey shot a 16-millimeter film with
Naomi Watts in which she plays an aspiring actress struggling to hold on to
her sense of identity as she hurtles from one audition to the next. They
then developed it into a feature-length film, "Ellie Parker," shot on a
digital camera, over the next four years. During that time, Watts has
achieved the recognition that proves so elusive to Ellie.
"Ellie Parker" is a funny, fractured valentine, celebrating the
incandescence of Watts' blond beauty and shimmering talent. Ellie's story is
as old as Hollywood, but Coffey brings to it a fresh, frenzied and often
painfully raw vision in which Ellie begins to feel that her personality is
as fragmented as life in Los Angeles can be. Ellie encounters a few kind
souls, but mainly she runs up against that impersonal quality that
characterizes many L.A. people and places. "Ellie Parker" is at once
hilarious and harrowing, and in being so, seems right on target.
Ellie has a high-intensity personality, and her readings for the heroine of
a dreadful Civil War saga and for a junkie prostitute, another trite part,
bring to them a passion and conviction beyond what they deserve. In the
meantime, she catches her rock-star boyfriend (Mark Pellegrino) two-timing
her, seeks shelter with her seemingly more stable actress pal (Rebecca
Rigg), with whom she attends an acting class that seems more like primal
scream therapy, and has an encounter with an aspiring cinematographer
(Coffey).
And when she tells her wise and sympathetic agent (Chevy Chase, in a nifty
change of pace) that she wants to quit acting, she's taken aback when he
doesn't try to talk her out of it. The people and events in Ellie's life
conspire to isolate her as she strives to get a grip on herself and her
life. There's an honesty, as painful as it is comical, about Ellie and her
story that lingers long after the lights go up.
'Ellie Parker'
MPAA rating: Unrated
Times guidelines: Language, some drugs, adult themes
A Strand Releasing presentation. Writer-director Scott Coffey. Producers
Naomi Watts, Coffey. Cinematographers Coffey, Blair Mastbaum. Editors Matt
Chessé and Catherine Hollander.
MOVIE REVIEW
'Ellie Parker'
Five years in the making, Scott Coffey's labor of love with Naomi Watts is a
fresh take on the plight of a struggling actress.
'Ellie Parker'
By Kevin Thomas, Times Staff Writer
Five years ago, actor-director Scott Coffey shot a 16-millimeter film with
Naomi Watts in which she plays an aspiring actress struggling to hold on to
her sense of identity as she hurtles from one audition to the next. They
then developed it into a feature-length film, "Ellie Parker," shot on a
digital camera, over the next four years. During that time, Watts has
achieved the recognition that proves so elusive to Ellie.
"Ellie Parker" is a funny, fractured valentine, celebrating the
incandescence of Watts' blond beauty and shimmering talent. Ellie's story is
as old as Hollywood, but Coffey brings to it a fresh, frenzied and often
painfully raw vision in which Ellie begins to feel that her personality is
as fragmented as life in Los Angeles can be. Ellie encounters a few kind
souls, but mainly she runs up against that impersonal quality that
characterizes many L.A. people and places. "Ellie Parker" is at once
hilarious and harrowing, and in being so, seems right on target.
Ellie has a high-intensity personality, and her readings for the heroine of
a dreadful Civil War saga and for a junkie prostitute, another trite part,
bring to them a passion and conviction beyond what they deserve. In the
meantime, she catches her rock-star boyfriend (Mark Pellegrino) two-timing
her, seeks shelter with her seemingly more stable actress pal (Rebecca
Rigg), with whom she attends an acting class that seems more like primal
scream therapy, and has an encounter with an aspiring cinematographer
(Coffey).
And when she tells her wise and sympathetic agent (Chevy Chase, in a nifty
change of pace) that she wants to quit acting, she's taken aback when he
doesn't try to talk her out of it. The people and events in Ellie's life
conspire to isolate her as she strives to get a grip on herself and her
life. There's an honesty, as painful as it is comical, about Ellie and her
story that lingers long after the lights go up.
'Ellie Parker'
MPAA rating: Unrated
Times guidelines: Language, some drugs, adult themes
A Strand Releasing presentation. Writer-director Scott Coffey. Producers
Naomi Watts, Coffey. Cinematographers Coffey, Blair Mastbaum. Editors Matt
Chessé and Catherine Hollander.
posted by EP at 12:14 PM
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