Ellie Parker (2005)
Average Rating: 5.6/10
Reviews Counted: 46
Fresh: 24 | Rotten: 22
Despite some poignant commentary about struggling actors and Naomi Watts' inspired performance, Ellie Parker stutters in making the transition from short to feature length.
Average Rating: 5.5/10
Critic Reviews: 17
Fresh: 8 | Rotten: 9
Despite some poignant commentary about struggling actors and Naomi Watts' inspired performance, Ellie Parker stutters in making the transition from short to feature length.
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Average Rating: 2.9/5
User Ratings: 5,838
My Rating
Movie Info
Naomi Watts produces and stars in Ellie Parker, a semi-autobiographical story of an Australian actress struggling to make it in Hollywood. Ellie is young enough to still schlep to auditions back and forth across L.A., changing wardrobes and slapping on makeup en route, but just old enough that the future feels "more like a threat than a promise." She lives with her vacant musician boyfriend (Mark Pellegrino), who leaves her just about as dissatisfied as any other part of her life, and has a
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Cast
-
Naomi Watts
Ellie Parker -
Rebecca Rigg
Sam -
Scott Coffey
Chris -
Mark Pellegrino
Justin -
Blair Mastbaum
Smash Jackson -
Chevy Chase
Dennis Swartzbaum -
Jennifer Syme
Casting Chick -
Gregory Frietas
Rick Saul -
Gaye Pope
Leslie Towne -
Jessica Vogl
Trixie -
Kim Fay
Therapist -
Todd Coffey
Upstairs Neighbour -
David Baer
Acting Teacher -
Marcel Sarmiento
Acting Student -
Robbi Chong
Acting Student -
Jessicka Whitt Crane
Acting Student -
Brian McCardie
Acting Student -
Bret Domrose
Dogstar Band Member -
Robert Mailhouse
Dogstar Band Member -
Keanu Reeves
Dogstar Band Member -
Debbie Leavit
Vicodin Girl -
Gabriella Wall
'Slut' Yelling Girl -
Fanshen Cox
Receptionist -
Samantha Shelton
Rainbow -
Julie Fay
Therapist's Companion -
Kate Garwood
Actress Before Ellie -
Victoria Smirnova
Russian -
Sergei Afrika
Russian -
Billy Ray Cyrus
Russian -
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Ellie Parker Trailer & Photos
All Critics (55) | Top Critics (19) | Fresh (27) | Rotten (23) | DVD (8)
Like a sputtering career, Ellie Parker pretty much goes nowhere, and it's difficult to imagine that it would be of interest to many beyond the Hollywood community.
Top CriticThe picture looks cheap and feels stretched.
Eventually the energy of the original short runs out and the movie coasts on fumes, but it remains surprisingly enjoyable for all that.
The premise -- someone trying to inject meaning into a necessarily vacuous existence -- is depressing, but there are moments of vaguely uncomfortable hilarity. The whole endeavor, however, winds up feeling flat and a bit dull.
This is the movie they should show in college acting classes, instead of tapes of Inside the Actors' Studio.
[Watts'] performance carries this film.
No one doubts Naomi Watts is photogenic, but this effort is very hard to sit through. Nearly impossible.
Watts fans will, of course, want to see Ellie Parker regardless of what I or anyone else say about it.
Naomi Watts (Mulholland Drive, King Kong), who always seems to be playing an aspiring actress, is a thespian again, here, as the title character of this comic portrait of a newcomer to Tinseltown trying to find fame in fortune in Hollywood.
Game for almost anything, Watts displays serious comic chops and is, as always, a delight to watch.
Enjoyable comedy with several laugh-out-loud moments and a terrific performance from Naomi Watts.
O que falta de estilo ao filme é compensado por uma atuação corajosa, despojada e impressionante de Naomi Watts.
If you're considering a move to L.A. to pursue an acting career, this is your Scared Straight.
...the stretch to feature length hasn't done the material any favors.
Audience Reviews for Ellie Parker
Super Reviewer
Naomi Watts is our tragic heroine here, again turning in a superbly real performance, most tellingly in that before David Lynch had the insightfulness to grant her the lead in Mulholland Drive, most of Parker WAS her life. Unlike her 'pro-creativity' best friend, Parker is a method actress, requiring her to put herself through abject trauma in order to land herself a role. This aspect of the storytelling is the lynchpin for the movie's plot, highlighting not only the difficulty of balancing life and art, but also the poisonous nature of Hollywood, an industry that profits from people's pain.
In this regard, the film is also funnier than you'd expect, seeing Watts changing clothes and perfecting accents for trashy roles whilst driving to casting auditions!
Coupled with this are her unreliably moronic boyfriend and fling with a 'hot-shot' producer, which serve to make Parker's life worse, which of course conversely helps her acting!
Perhaps the best satire since The Player, and a decent comparion piece to the mighty Mulholland Drive.
Super Reviewer
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Latest News on Ellie Parker
February 10, 2012:
John Cusack Joins Emma Roberts in Adult WorldScott Coffee ("Ellie Parker") is directing and co-starring in the comedy about a young college grad...
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