A topically ambitious motion picture that never spots a true purpose for being.
S1m0ne (2002)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:154
Fresh:78
Rotten:76
Average Rating:5.8/10
Consensus: The satire in S1m0ne lacks bite, and the plot isn't believable enough to feel relevant.
Runtime: 1 hr 57 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis:
"I can't work with a fake."
-- Viktor Taransky
In Hollywood, the land of illusion, never have those words rung so true… until S1M0NE.
She is the ultimate director's fantasy. Unlike her flesh...
"I can't work with a fake." In Hollywood, the land of illusion, never have those words rung so true… until S1M0NE.
She is the ultimate director's fantasy. Unlike her flesh and blood colleagues, she won't get old, won't gain an ounce. She won't get drunk, will never need rehab. She doesn't have an agent, manager, entourage or religious guru. She won't demand a bigger trailer or a private jet. She does all of her own stunts. She doesn't need a body double. She has no problem with nudity - clothes are simply an option. She's programmed to love any script she's offered. She's not interested in money. The only power she craves comes from an electrical outlet.
Meet S1M0NE.
Viktor Taransky (Al Pacino) is a down and out Academy Award -nominated director who just lost his last shot at a comeback when his temperamental flesh and blood actress (Winona Ryder in a cameo role as Nicola Anders) walked off his movie Sunrise, Sunset. And when she left, so did Taransky's self-respect. Fired by his ex-wife and studio head Elaine Christian (Catherine Keener), Taransky just lost any hope of recapturing his former life with Elaine and their daughter Lainey (Evan Rachel Wood). But then computer genius Hank Aleno (Elias Koteas) shows up…
Although Hank is not long for this world, he is certain his creation will be in the right hands - Taransky's. Although Taransky initially rebuffs Hank's insane proposal, Hank has the last say. He bequeaths the software to Taransky that will change his life forever: Simulation One. Just a few key strokes and an overnight sensation is born: S1M0NE. Suddenly, Taransky has a taste of the success he always craved and the world's most beloved star under his thumb.
Or does he?
An intrepid tabloid reporter, Max Sayer (Pruitt Taylor Vince), is doing his best to challenge that. And his pursuit becomes a little sweeter when Taransky's immaculate matrix starts to take on a life of her own.
In a twist of comedic consequences the Omniscient Taransky never anticipated, the creation…or creature… is about to show the creator the meaning of "Eternity Forever."
Suddenly, real never looked so good.
New Line Cinema presents S1M0NE, written, directed and produced by Academy Award nominated screenwriter Andrew Niccol (writer/director of Gattaca, and writer/producer of The Truman Show), a comedy about one man's truth found in the great lie perpetuated by celebrity culture. It stars Academy Award winner and multiple nominee Al Pacino (Scent of A Woman), Academy Award nominee Catherine Keener (Being John Malkovich), Evan Rachel Wood (ABC's "Once And Again"), Jay Mohr (Pay It Forward), Emmy Award winner Pruitt Taylor Vince (Nurse Betty), Elias Koteas (Exotica), Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore) and Stanley Anderson (Armageddon). And introducing S1M0NE as herself.
Bradley Cramp (Gattaca) is executive producer. The creative team includes Director of Photography Edward Lachman (Erin Brockovich), Production Designer Jan Roelfs (Gattaca), Costume Designer Elisabetta Beraldo (Frequency) and Editor Paul Rubell (The Insider).
New Line Cinema releases S1M0NE (rated PG-13 by the M.P.A.A. for "some sensuality") nationwide on August 23rd, 2002.
-- © New Line Cinema
-- Viktor Taransky
Starring: Al Pacino, Catherine Keener, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Jay Mohr
Starring: Al Pacino, Catherine Keener, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Jay Mohr, Rachel Roberts, Jason Schwartzman, Tony Crane, Elias Koteas, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos
Director: Andrew Niccol
Director: Andrew Niccol
Screenwriter: Andrew Niccol
Producer: Andrew Niccol
Composer: Carter Burwell
Studio: New Line Cinema
Reviews for S1m0ne
You don't so much admire the movie as feel bludgeoned by its attitudes, however commendable they may be.
A witty and sharply written Hollywood satire that is entertaining, if a bit directionless.
Pushes its thesis way past the breaking point of even the most gullible or charitable of viewers.
While Simone has its strengths, perhaps we should have waited for version 2.0.
Uses a premise involving fantasy computer technology as a jumping- off point to say some pertinent things about longing and idolatry in the modern age.
There is honestly funny head-scratching here about the real and fake, on screen and in life, and about the elements of stardom, and about the need for personality to give beauty a soul.
Aside from being the funniest movie of the year, Simone, Andrew Niccol's brilliant anti-Hollywood satire, has a wickedly eccentric enchantment to it.
Most of the time, writer/ director Andrew Niccol's comic fantasy comes off as a static and trivial revisitation of his far superior The Truman Show.
It's a strange, uneven film, hilarious in moments and tin-eared in others, alternately subtle and hammer-handed, acid and dull.
The only thing more tedious than watching this computerized bore would be downloading it through a phone line.
The film isn't much, but Pacino's nimble actor's mind, the way it animates his haggard face and puts his voice and body at the character's service, is something no computer can touch.
Pacino gets to chew the scenery like he's never done before and absolutely fabulous at it.
It not only has a star created by a computer, it has a script that could have been created in one as well.
Simone is not a bad film. It just doesn't have anything really interesting to say.
Latest News for S1m0ne
April 29, 2005:
Lions Gate Warms Up to the "Lord of War"
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