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| Simone
Year: 2002
Classification: Comedy
Birthdate: 3 February 1909
Directed:
- Andrew Niccol
Actors/Actresses:
- Catherine Keener
- Danny Devito
- Al Pacino
- Rachel Roberts (III)
One of the most pleasing Hollywood satires in ages
Sadly it is often the case that Hollywood is unlikely to laugh at itself, but Simone is a rare example. After the lead actress on Viktor Taransky's (Al Pacino) latest movie walks out he's left footing a huge bill, unless he can find a suitable replacement in time. In steps a crazy computer genius who has created Simulation One, a piece of software that can create a digital actress - Simone - who won't walk out on her film, will always follow her director's guidelines and can also channel equal parts Meryl Streep and Audrey Hepburn through use of a complicated network.
What makes Simone so enjoyable is that it's very very clever without sacrificing its humour. As the attention is shifted away from Taransky and onto Simone, issues of creation versus creator and the fickleness of an audience are brought into play. Whilst the scales tip and Simone overshadows Taransky, he attempts to sabotage her in interviews and even on film with the deliberately atrocious yet attributed to Simone production I Am Pig. Here the nature of celebrity is explored in its entireity, even if not in the most surprising way.
Al Pacino gives a nicely lighthearted turn as the troubled Taransky and kudos should go to Winona Ryder for sending herself up so well. Unfortunately, Catherine Keener (so good in Being John Malkovich) isn't given much to work with, but apart from that the casting is pretty much spot-on. In addition, there are some absolutely hilarious scenes, most involving Taransky's attempt to sabotage Simone by making her say controversial things concerning smoking, immigration and the flavour of dolphin meat. All of this is great stuff, milked for every penny it's worth. Whilst the satire might not be as coldly effective as it was in Niccol's previous work Gattaca, it's certainly timely and at the end of the day just plain enjoyable.
Pacino makes good rebound from insomnia
Al Pacino seemed very much back in his element in this right watchable flick, after his last movie had him lumbering around interminably, unable to sleep in the land of the midnight Sun. This time he plays a down-on-luck movie director whose career suddenly takes off spectacularly after he inherits a remarkable computer-animation device, called SIMULATION ONE. It can create on-screen images that viewers can't tell from real performers. With it he creates a "perfect" virtual "actress", whom he names "S1MONE", as a contraction of the device's name. Simone becomes such an overnight sensation of an "actress" that her creator is mobbed by fans and press vying for a glimpse of her. To explain why she never appears in person, he must start advancing a scenario that paints Simone to be the ultimate recluse. Doting fans still love her, and she soon wins two Oscars, which she accepts by remote video. Many seem to have trashed this movie. Maybe it offends some for being politically incorrect -- it's about an entity being entirely manipulated by a man, and that entity convincingly appears to the public to be a woman. Maybe that's too close for comfort for the PC crowd. Or maybe it's the more tangible threat posed by the likes of Simone, to eliminate the need for real flesh-and-blood actresses. But would the same not follow for actors as well? Anyhow, the plot thickens as Pacino's character finds he can pull Simone's cyberstrings and manipulate her into a cinematic sensation and a gold mine, but her burgeoning fame offscreen becomes more than he can deal with. He resolves he must end the illusion one way or another. I won't give away any more of what follows, but I for one do recommend it as a cinematic romp well worth the ride.
A wealth of riches that should have been so much better
Andrew Niccol, writer of director's Peter Weir's highly entertaining and thought-provoking "The Truman Show" takes the helm by directing what I see as an interesting and recurring theme in his work. In both "Truman" and "Simone," Niccol seems postulate that we accept almost everything in our lives without close examination. He goes further to theorize that sometimes what we tend to believe what we are shown even more that what we see for ourselves even if we take the time for a cursory examination. This perspective is particularly appropriate with regard as to how we are in such awe of celebrities and think that whatever they do is worth reading/talking about.
In my opinion, he's on to something, but although "Simone" begins with an interesting premise, Niccol squanders the opportunity and the end result is neither thought-provoking, sufficiently funny, or ever believable at any level even as satire. Although I generally hate to give anything away about the movies that I review, I will get into the main premise, so if you know nothing about this movie, you may want to skip the rest of the review. The movie starts out with much promise as director Viktor Taransky (played by the always great to watch Al Pacino) is having major issues with his impossible to please leading lady Nicola Anders (played with over the top gusto by Winona Rider). Since Nicola believes that she's not being treated like the star that she is, she walks out of the movie before it is finished due to what will be termed the usual "creative differences," even though it's all about ego.
At this point the movie had me hooked as I started to anticipate a satire/spoof of Hollywood a la "The Player" or the creation of an alternate universe a la "The Truman Show," or even better something that would up the ante on both. Regrettably, what follows is a mess. Due to circumstances that are best left unrevealed, Viktor is able to create "Simone," a computer generated actress who does not act like a diva and winds up charming all of Hollywood. It still sounds like it has potential, does it not?
Well, not when the movie never makes a convincing case that Simone is a good actress (in fact her scenes are not very good, but with only one exception, they don't seem to be intended to be funny) or on the other hand the movie does not make the case that her universal appeal might due to her beauty or any "X" factor that it was computer generated that somehow convinced or hypnotized people overlook her obvious lack of talent.
What follows are many attempts to be "zany" as everyone wants a piece of Simone, but that can't happen since she's not real; notwithstanding Vikotr attempts to give the people what they want in ways thar are not as funny or suspenseful as they could have been. Then the movie totally runs out of the little steam it generated entirely by rounding up the story in such a sappy and absolutely unsatisfying way, that you wind up feeling not only bored but cheated.re>
Buy Simone at Amazon.com
Buy posters at Allposters.com
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