With the first gag in the movie being someone falling face first into a pig pen, I got a good feeling as to what the remaining eighty-eight or so minutes of "Ellie" would be like, and I was proved to be correct. I know that it was supposed to be a comedy, but the level of humor here is so juvenile and predictable that it provokes hostility from the viewer instead. None of the cast seems able to salvage anything from the sorry script and direction. Shelley Winters seems to be going on autopilot, Pat Paulsen is utterly wasted, and while former Penthouse Pet Sheila Kennedy doesn't give the worst performance by a woman who has posed for the centerfold of a men's magazine, she all the same lacks spark. Speaking of her, if you are expecting a lot of sex and nudity, most likely you'll be very disappointed. There's no sex, unless you count several scenes of attempted rape (ha ha, ain't rape funny?) And while Kennedy does appear naked, it's only for three scenes, and two of them are pretty brief exposures. It's only fitting that the distribution rights to this movie are now owned by Z grade film company Troma.
