HelenMary I saw the full length version of Ellie Parker, not the Short. I wish I'd seen the Short! The first thing I thought/commented about this film was that it didn't seem finished. It was filmed in a very amateurish way; hand-held, digital, possibly on someone's phone, lots of background interference/noise. Sound quality and picture quality were poor. Clearly very low budget, to the point that it was almost embarrassing to watch, like you were watching something you shouldn't be, but on the plus side that did make it more personal watching the titular character (Watts) intimately. But it was painful viewing; warts and all with intrusive camera shots, where you thought you should be looking away. The Direction and editing were odd, and the style of the film changed in bits throughout, which also didn't make any sense, it looked like home videos filmed by different people, mashed together. If it was a college kid's exam piece it would have been quite brilliant. The only scene which was in any way poignant was part (not all of it) of a scene with Ellie at the Therapist's rooms… her monologue about not feeling like her life had begun yet and she was still practicing etc. That was deep and profound, for a few minutes.I get that it was a fly on the wall look at the inner workings and ridiculousness, angst and awfulness of trying to make it in LA, I really do get that. I can see that as a show reel for Naomi Watts, the chameleon actress playing the part of a chameleon actress, schlepping across LA to her auditions, it was pretty impressive. However, as a film, it was terrible. I get what it was trying to do, but it was the wrong kind of pretentious, self-indulgent film-making that actually has no substance. Perhaps that is a commentary on the Hollywood machine, right there. Arty types might see nuances and double meanings, like the scene in the art gallery; the art is supposed to mean something really profound but actually it's just ridiculous, but it's not good enough to carry that sort of commentary. You've got to still sit through it.None of the characters were likable, or even had much presence. Jennifer Syme was sweet and natural and had one of the two laughs in the film (slipping on the blue stuff), and it was nice to see her; she seemed to be the only real person really but even she didn't rate a named role! May she rest in peace. Chevy Chase was quite likable and vaguely amusing in his small role.I watched the film as one of Keanu Reeves' back catalogue, and I wonder why on earth he signed on for it; perhaps because of Syme's involvement. Perhaps on paper it was interesting, somehow though, it turned out to be not very original. And messy. Reeves' role was as himself at a Dogstar gig, the footage of which looked superimposed into the film from elsewhere, YouTube or a newsreel. That whole scene was really awkward and fuzzy. I like Dogstar's music but it didn't sound good in this film.There were a few scenes which I just wanted to look away from, Naomi on the loo was one of them, and it was often just that feeling of dread waiting for something horrible to happen. It does make me make me realise how vulnerable jobbing actresses are, and how awful it must be to try to make it – especially in light of recent scandals in the business (Weinstein etc).There was a very brief laugh involving Ellie in the southern belle dress, waiting for her audition in the hotel, but I really wouldn't call this a comedy. That whole audition scene I was thinking "something awful is going to happen," again, a bit like the creeping impending doom of Reeves' Generation Um…? where you're on the edge of your seat for all the wrong reasons.I had no idea what to expect watching Ellie Parker, but overall I can attest that it was not an enjoyable film; I went into it believing it was a comedy, back when I was naïve and the world was still colourful, but I would go so far as to say it was boring and whilst watching it I was just waiting for something to happen and/or it to end. I feel a little jaded by it. I feel it was a waste of time. Perhaps all of that, though, is part of the dialogue of the film. How you are supposed to feel, before as a glittering Hollywood star rises from those ashes. I have no idea. It would explain why some stars are so protective of their position if they've been through all that, but all of us who strive towards something can perhaps relate in some small way to Ellie's travails. Maybe not.I gave this 2/10 as it was so awful, but Naomi's performance and versatility in the film, and her bravery, despite my not liking anything about her character, was actually pretty good. If you are a fan of Naomi Watts you will see her in all kinds of guises here. Dogstar get a point, just because, so 3/10.

Blake Peterson There's a scene in David Lynch's Mulholland Dr. where Naomi Watts, in her breakthrough role, auditions for a coveted part in a romantic thriller, or something like that. In it, she is practically forced to seduce the old guy she is acting alongside, all the while maintaining the tension of the scene, owning it, feeling it. To act is one thing — to act to act is another. As the scene, and the film, progresses, there's a sense that Watts is pulling out every artistic fiber from her body and placing them onto a silver platter for us to scrutinize. This isn't going to be some film she does in desperation to pay the bills; this is going to be her big break, and whether you like Lynch's style or not, you're going to remember the name NAOMI WATTS, in big, bold letters over a 1940s style marquee, no less. It's one of the greatest performances ever committed to the celluloid — would it have been so astonishing, though, if Watts had not lived the life of a struggling actress for so many years?After Mulholland Dr. was released, Watts became a sensation seemingly overnight; leading roles in The Ring, 21 Grams, King Kong, etc. etc. etc. uniformly followed. Today, she is considered to be one of Hollywood's top actresses, but for about a decade before her big break, she was traveling from audition from audition, rejection to rejection; in interviews, she has said that she almost quit the business several times. Can you imagine if she had? Typically, when an actor describes their early struggles, stories of sympathy seem to go out the other ear. You're sitting before us on the guest chair of a talk show — who cares about what happened to you all those years ago? You're successful now, aren't you? It all seems far away, part of an eventually glamorous storyline. We forget that everyone has to start somewhere: not everyone can be Lauren Bacall or the Apparently Kid. For some, it only takes a few minutes to achieve worldwide fame; for others, it can take years and a ridiculous amount of dedication. Ellie Parker, a passion project for Watts (she produced), is a semi- autobiographical account of her horrendous years trying to "make it" (and failing), and the results are outlandish but also sad-funny, extremely well-acted. Filmed with a video camera possibly even worse than the one you used to record your family's Christmas vacation in 1999, Ellie Parker bears the texture of the fragile emotions of the actors who aren't quite successful enough to afford an expensive lens. It's all very strange, to say the least — the close-ups are really close up, mind you — but I really admire a film like this. It's like a Cassavetes reject that has just enough heart to really stick with you when the story doesn't always want to.Watts portrays Ellie with harrowing truthfulness. She's a mess, to put it nicely. Outside of her ferocious auditions, she's dating a loser musician (Mark Pellegrino), confessing her every thought and feeling to her slightly uninterested therapist (Ellie later notices that the word therapist also could be pronounced "the rapist", which seems like a more accurate label anyway), figuring out show business with her equally dissatisfied friend (Rebecca Rigg), and slowly discovering that the more rejection she receives the more she loses her sense of self. She also sleeps with an aspiring cinematographer who thanks her for crystallizing the fact that he's gay (he simply imagined she was Johnny Depp), and she also goes to a callback in which every single producer is seriously stoned. There's no business like show business, sure, but damn, Ethel Merman was lucky. At least she could sing about it like it wasn't totally soul sucking.Ellie Parker has already been forgotten as some weird experiment Watts attempted with some pals — few liked it (except for the always open minded Roger Ebert) — but I think it's one of her best films and certainly one of her best performances (in a career full of many). Several major actresses have attempted to go back to their roots by, for example, starring in a movie where a respected director is at the helm and they play a drug addict/single mother/stripper/prostitute who doesn't wear any makeup, ultimately winning an Oscar along the way (then going back to sizable paychecks); but hardly any, if any, have gone as far as Naomi Watts goes with Ellie Parker.If it seemed like Watts was giving a piece of herself to David Lynch and us viewers in Mulholland Dr., then consider Ellie Parker to contain her soul. It's hard to really know how much of the film is based on fact, but one can infer that Watts did humiliate herself in auditions and did contemplate quitting more than a few times. The fact that the film ends on such a depressing note (Ellie eventually decides to quit acting, only to come back for the unexpectedly and disappointingly pot infested callback I mentioned earlier) speaks louder than anything Watts ever had to say when she was preaching on Inside the Actors Studio all those years ago: acting is a tough occupation, and anything even resembling success is good enough. And if you have to transform yourself from a Southern Belle to a Brooklyn junkie/ho/Mafia item in the driver's seat of your car in exasperation, so be it.Ellie Parker is abrasive in its style and intense in its acting, but it's anything but the unwatchable mess so many critics sidelined it as originally. This is a funny, sad, but surprisingly admirable account of a struggling actress.Read more reviews at petersonreviews.com

Leila Cherradi It is not often that I finish a movie with a strong feeling like this one.In this society, so full of images, that we aspire to, a movie like this is sanity.I wish it was more viewable : I am no big fan of shaking camera, I realize.But other than that, Naomi Watts nails it, really. She nails to show us the sordide journey of another-girl-who-wanna-be-famous. And that's thanks to a very realistic scenario. I loooooooooooooove any movie who rips the illusion of acting especially in the multimillions industry.However, what is paradoxical is that Naomi Watts is NOT another-girl-who-wanna-be-famous. She's one who succeeded at it! I wonder what was her motives to play the life of the real LA wannabees, who really cry in despair alone in their little apartment waiting for someone to call them to finally do their job! I invite those who loved this movie to see Somewhere by Coppola.

glamourgutter We need the MPAA to create a mandate-Ellie Parker cannot be considered a movie. It seems the easiest conceit of a film plot is making a 'film in a film.' Consider this:you don't need to create sets, they're there already. You can use the director's office, his house, hell, show the casting couch,it's there already for the using! Also you don't have to try as hard, she's playing an actress,she acting, but is she acting in the film or acting like she is acting in the film?Who knows?Who cares!If I had any admiration for Naomi Watts before this I certainly wouldn't now.She has exposed not only her tenuous artifice of her acting and acting in general, she has shown us how foolish we are to devote time and money watching crap fly around on a screen.And I thought King Kong was the coffin's nail...