Ellie Parker
Dream Entertainment | Release Date: November 11, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
51
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
9
Negative:
4
Watch Now
Buy on
Stream On

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Seattle Post-IntelligencerGianni Truzzi
Watts and Coffey may have vaulted Hollywood's gated enclaves, but this affectionate film shows they haven't forgotten, nor idealized, their days among the ranks of the struggling and ambitious. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
Watts is a champ for seeing this through now that she's actually famous. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
Ellie Parker is at once hilarious and harrowing, and in being so, seems right on target. Read full review
80
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
The sharpest, most authentic portrait of Hollywood life made in the last several years. (As a movie about contemporary Los Angeles, it's approximately 617 percent better than the monumentally bogus "Shopgirl.") Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
A good movie, fearless and true, observant and merciless. Naomi Watts was brave to make it and gifted to make it so well. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Fun, scattershot Hollywood spoof. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyScott Brown
Coffey, a tart comic mind who should cast his net farther from the 405, pads his story with more and more familiar degradations, and Watts plays each one to the hilt. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneJessica Reaves
Welcome to the world of Ellie Parker, a faux-documentary and big, fat raspberry dedicated to L.A.'s underclass. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Eventually the energy of the original short runs out and the movie coasts on fumes, but it remains surprisingly enjoyable for all that. Read full review
60
Film ThreatBob Westal
A rare pleasure. Read full review
60
EmpirePatrick Peters
A splendid performance by Naomi Watts holds together this smart and astutely restrained lampoon of life in the Hollywood basement. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterJames Greenberg
A splendid idea for a film goes largely wasted despite a brave performance by Naomi Watts as a struggling actress trying to figure it all out in Hollywood. Read full review
50
Village VoiceMelissa Anderson
A clumsy spoof of Hollywood, EP always roots for its hapless heroine. But where this trifle fascinates most is in its connections to David Lynch's masterpiece. Read full review
50
The New York TimesStephen Holden
For Ms. Watts, it is a small, brave acting tour de force. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleNeva Chonin
Can't sustain its narrative for a full 95 minutes. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Most of the gags misfire, though some scenes are memorably tawdry. Read full review
40
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Without Watts, Scott Coffey's feature-length expansion of his identically titled short wouldn't amount to much. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Watts is in nearly every frame of the movie, so if you're a fan (and you should be) that's the reason to see this. Read full review
38
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Watts is good -- occasionally very good -- and her willingness to be filmed at unflattering angles, in pore-wallowing or with bright blue ice cream smeared on her face is admirable. Read full review
30
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
It almost seems that Watts made a movie this intentionally scuzzy and low-rent as a severe form of penance to the gods of authenticity for the sin of making millions jet-setting around the world appearing in big, glamorous super-productions. But she goes too far in making the audience suffer as well. Read full review
25
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
Shot on digital video, made on the run whenever Watts was available between gigs, the movie is a pointless, tedious eyesore. Read full review
25
New York PostKyle Smith
Naomi Watts is the only explanation for the existence of the student-y digital video feature Ellie Parker. Read full review
More From This Movie

51 Critic Reviews

7.7 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL