Five years ago, actor/director Scott Coffey bought a consumer-grade digital video camera and in three days’ time shot a 16-minute short about a bottom-of-the- Hollywood-chain actress named Ellie Parker whose life is a whirlwind of humiliating auditions, overwrought therapy sessions and romantic turmoil. The star of Coffey’s short was a then-unknown Australian actress named Naomi Watts who has since become, as anyone paying even the slightest attention is surely aware, a Hollywood A-lister. The expanded “Ellie Parker” was made on the cheap and it shows, with little to offer in the way of a cohesive storyline. Still, it’s worth the price of admission just to watch Watts turn in one of the liveliest performances of the year doing a hilarious study in self-imposed human bondage. Chevy Chase also fares well in a cameo as Ellie’s agent.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 11, 2005. Read the original PDF.