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DVD Features Naomi Watts in Familiar Role
Naomi Watts always seems to be playing an aspiring actress, whether as
the femme fatale at the center of Mulholland Drive, or reprising Fay Wray’s
role as Ann Darrow in the recent remake of King Kong. Here, she’s
again a thespian as the title character of this comic portrait about a
newcomer to Tinseltown trying to find fame in fortune in Hollywood.
The picture marks the promising directorial debut of child actor-turned-writer/director
Scott Coffey who you may remember from such coming-of-age classics as
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Some Kind of Wonderful, Space Camp, Shag
and Zombie High. Shot on a shoestring budget on personal use-quality videotape,
this super-realistic picture has the look of a home movie.
The camera follows Ellie around from audition to audition, by day, and
in and out of steamy clinches, by night. This moody mercurial girl chain
smokes, swears like a sailor, practices her lines, and agonizes over relationships,
friendships, her stalled career, and her manager (Chevy Chase) who’s
too blasé to offer much in the way of encouragement.
The only flaw of this flick, which is admittedly amusing in spots, lies
in its aforementioned poor quality cinematography which intermittently
interferes with one’s ability to concentrate on an otherwise engaging
story.
To their credit, Watts and the rest of the cast throw themselves enthusiastically
into the often outrageous plotline. Not quite a legit full-length feature,
more like a promising film school project which inexplicably happens to
have a few A-list actors in it.
Good (2 stars)
Unrated with plenty of profanity, and female frontal nudity, including
one fairly graphic sex scene.
Running time: 94 minutes
Studio: Strand Releasing
DVD Extras: Director’s commentary, deleted scenes and a theatrical
trailer.
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