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Imagine Mulholland Drive as a low-budget indie farce and you've got Ellie Parker, in which Naomi Watts plays another hapless Hollywood wannabe. The sinister surrealism of David Lynch's masterpiece gives way to screwball satire, as Ellie ricochets between abortive auditions and her train-wreck personal life. Based on a 16-minute short and shot over four years - during which time Ms Watts became a bona fide star - it's a bit scrappy and shrill, but offers laughs, warts-and-all insight and a knockout lead performance.

Hotfooting from one casting session to the next - one minute she's a Southern belle, the next a New York hooker - Watts is a chameleon who's also game for anything: using the loo on-camera, bonking in the bathtub, throwing up blue ice-cream. It's a vanity-free tour de force that helpfully draws attention from the handheld histrionics of writer/director Scott Coffey's digital camerawork. Still, Coffey also contributes a memorable turn as a sexually confused cinematography student. Other actors orbiting Watts include Chevy Chase (as Ellie's agent) and Keanu Reeves, who rocks out with his real-life band Dogstar.

"A POISONED VALENTINE TO SHOWBIZ"

Despite the celeb cameos, this is hardly a film with stars in its eyes. It's a poisoned valentine to the lunacies of the LA showbiz scene. And no matter how loopy things get - an in-car crying contest between Ellie and her pal Sam (Rebecca Rigg), for example - there's always a raw ring of truth to the insecurity and desperation on show. Dark-edged tales of aspiring actors are as old as the Hollywood hills, but this one's fresh, fearless, and funny from top to tail.