S1m0ne Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES
A star is... created.
On August 23, Meet a Real Fake
The career of a disillusioned producer, who is desperate for a hit, is endangered when his star walks off the film set. Forced to think fast, the producer decides to digitally create an actress "Simone" to sub for the star—the first totally believable synthetic actress. The "actress" becomes an overnight sensation, with a major singing career as well, and everyone thinks she's a real person. However, as Simone's fame skyrockets, he cannot bear to admit his fraud to himself or the world.
| Al Pacino | Viktor Taransky |
| Benjamin Salisbury | P.A. |
| Winona Ryder | Nicola Anders |
| Ron Perkins | Studio Executive |
| Jay Mohr | Hal Sinclair |
| Catherine Keener | Elaine Christian |
| Evan Rachel Wood | Lainey Christian |
| Jeffrey Pierce | Kent |
| Jeff Williams | Man in Suit |
| Rachel Roberts | Simone |
| Christopher Neiman | Premiere Audience Member |
| Andrew Niccol |
6.20 out of 10 (12686 votes)
Visitor Reviews
Moronic.
posted on 04 Aug 2009Ok, it was a little cute at first, and Pacino is still a great actor. However, Simone eventually turns into a cheap, thinly veiled love story surrounded by a high technology angle that is barely believable at best. I say this not because the technology to do a Simone doesn't exist - it does. Nor is it because people aren't truly so gullible - we see what we want to see. It's simply because nobody can imagine Al Pacino behind the controls of a high tech computer workstation, regardless of how much or how little programming is involved. Pacino is a bank robber, a detective, a cop, a gangster, a lot of things. But a touchy-feely film director, guiding and directing a digital/virtual actress in art-house films is a stretch. What's next, Pacino as a super-hero? C'mon. Actually, I'm getting tired of Mr Pacino. When actors start looking like a well-worn Italian shoe, and talk to virtual women, it's time to start packing it in. There's thousands of old, Kinky Italian American men who would love to be filmed in their boxers and black sox talking to computer simulations of sexy women.
Al Pachino at his best, doing worst
posted on 02 Aug 2009I mean i still cant believe it was an Al Pachino movie, and how in the holy hell did he even take this shitty script. Simone was a simulation even in real life, I mean come on, she wasn't even hot. Winnona Ryder was not better then her... please!!!!!!!!!Its full of mistakes both technological and non-technical.I don't mind the idea behind the film but, I do mind the movie. It was just plain old bad.Every one going gaga over Simone was also very unrealistic, especially without a base....People spare this film and yourself. You just might get a wrong conception about Al after this.And please I really do not find "Rachel Roberts" hot.
"It's easier to fool a hundred thousand people than just one."
posted on 28 May 2009"S1m0ne" is a movie about Viktor Taransky (Al Pacino), movie director who's career is not going the way he planned. When famous actress Nicola Anders (Winona Ryder) abandons one of Taransky's movie, Viktor realizes that he needs one hit film with a brand new, perfect actress. At same time computer genius Hank Alano (Elias Koteas), a fan of Taransky work, dies and leaves his work to Viktor. Now Viktor is able to create Simone (Rachel Roberts), digital actress. Simone becomes sensation and everyone thinks she's a real person. Everyone except it's creator, Viktor. Viktor must hide the truth from the world and also from his ex-wife Elaine (Catherine Keener), chief of his film company and his loving daughter Lainey (Evan Rachel Wood). "S1m0ne" is quite a brave project from director Andrew Niccol (writer of "Gattaca" and "The Truman Show") who wanted to make a message through this movie. Simone became sensation and she's not real, but none of these people was able to understand this. Simone (computer) took control under everyone (from her fans to her creator). That can be easily connected to todays world, where computers are replacing humans in factories and on all areas of work. Even in movies. But, hey what is real today? Even Pacino says that actors today are like computers, with all that make-up, trying to delete their negative sides (just like Viktor is trying to make Simone perfect by adding moves from well known actors to her). Pacino has few great lines in this movie but this one really amazed me: it's easier to fool a hundred thousand people than just one. He said everything with that line and the whole movie is based on great idea. This movie can make you think a bit about some things or some problems that are mentioned in this movie.Al Pacino was always and still is one of my favorite actors and he shines as Viktor Taransky. What else can you expect from such legend? Rachel Roberts is beautiful model and this is her first role in the movie, but what really surprised me are two actress: Evan Rachel Wood and Winona Ryder. Evan Rachel Wood because she's only 19 and she showed bags of ability so far. Winona Rider is good actress and I'm glad she's back after few not so good movies. Her monologue in the studio when she wants to get a role is great. Good job for all the crew especially for Pacino, who again confirmed himself in this drama with elements of comedy.
Nothing without the cast
posted on 16 May 2009The premise of Simone is hardly original, the plot holes are too conspicuous to ignore and the satire is, well, not very funny. No matter how good the performances of Pacino, Keener et al, this is lightweight fare that would have gone straight to video without its cast. To make matters worse, the pseudo-CGI bits will look absurdly dated in a few years (remember 'Lawnmower Man'?). In short, I was not impressed (although I have just watched Jackie Chan's 'The Tuxedo' against which 'Simone' looks like 'Citizen Kane').
Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "Showbiz people are so phony"
posted on 14 May 2009By Greg UrsicMany people bemoan the loss of the Hollywood mystique, when contract actors were essentially owned by the studios and lived glamorous, carefully tailored lives, and were surrounded by an air of mystery. The public however is just as much to blame for this - our insatiable need to know everything - how much the stars earn, who they're dating, what they're addicted to ... - has left them then without any semblance of privacy. It's amazing that today's superstars don't immolate under the spotlight's glare. While the days of discovering the next screen legend in ice cream parlours may be over, they may soon be created over a banana split...For Viktor Taransky bad things do indeed come in threes, in his case, movies: a former Oscar nominated director, his last three films have been box office dogs. His comeback attempt is apparently dashed when the star ("A supermodel with a SAG card") of his latest film walks out on him citing creative differences. Replacing her seems impossible - as an agent eloquently notes "[For my client] having no credits is better than having a Taransky credit." He also learns that rock bottom can always be adjusted when the studio chief - who also happens to be his ex-wife - lets him know that he's being fired. Distraught and demoralized, Viktor's salvation appears in the guise a seemingly deranged genius who offers him the ultimate software for the director who can't find a star - who says you can't make em like you used to?For those accustomed to Al Pacino's typical cast of characters -serious, dark and brooding, with an intensity level that never drops below 10, Viktor Taranksy is a refreshing change. As the real (read: flesh and blood) star of the film, Viktor is a man with a quandary - a director with integrity and vision, who actually sees beyond the box office, he must perpetrate a hoax, to get his film made and salvage his career. Pacino is appropriately low key and morose- even when Viktor should be bathing in the glow of success there is a palpable manic undercurrent and sense of foreboding. The supporting cast is a mixed blessing.Catherine Keener, who plays Elaine, Viktor's ex-wife (her second role as a Hollywood executive in as many months), has suprisingly little presence in the film - her dialogue is light and her character is relatively inconsequential. I can only assume that this was done so as not to detract from the other adult female lead (see below). Evan Rachel Wood, delivers a solid performance as the daughter, supplying maturity and offering sage advice to her self-involved immature parents. Of course the real star is Simone.As a synthespian, (or as the designer of S1MøNE software notes "The pc term is "vactor") Simone is happy with every script she receives, never complains about her perks and will never age - a director's dream. Though sultry and seductive, she projects a soothing screen presence, and you feel the symbiosis between her and Viktor. It wasn't until the credits started rolling that I realized Simone really was a computer generated image (this is confirmed by both the press kit and everything I've been able to find on the internet) and is a composite of Hollywood leading ladies from the past (drawn from the "Legends Library").Although marketed as a comedy, "Simone" highlights the growing impact of technology on how we perceive reality. While moviegoers have come to expect special effects in their films, most don't realize the extent to which they are actually utilized - it is not uncommon for actors to be made thinner, or taller, with the click of a mouse. Several films have already employed synthespians to perform difficult stunts and last year's Final Fantasy showed how far the technology had come (bankrupting a movie company in the process). Simone demonstrates that actors themselves may soon be in jeopardy. Of course there are other issues lurking in the background: will we be faced with the spectre of Jimmy Stewart in Scary Movie 6 or Grace Kelly hawking feminine hygiene products? More disturbing is the possibility that in the near future the news reports we're watching could be wholly fictional and we would have no way of knowing? But that's more than enough paranoia for one review.The first half of Simone is both fun and engaging as the public's thirst for knowledge about Simone grows: co-stars brag about partying with her, people say that she speaks to something in them because she is so real (irony at its best), and Simone reaches virtual demigoddess status. Unfortunately, the manic pace and almost giddy feel of the film begins to wane in the second half, meandering between different plot elements, and winding up in a too perfect conclusion.Go for the matinee and stay for the popcorn.
It's a virtually wonderful film
posted on 30 Apr 2009I don't live in Hollywood, never have -- and God willing, never will. I usually don't like Hollywood films about Hollywood (such as "The Player"), finding them too "insider." But I saw this film and loved it.First of all, Niccol wrote a brilliant screenplay. The two movies within the movie, "Sunrise, Sunset" and "Eternity Forever" would actually work as art films. But mainly this is a screwball comedy about a man trying to keep a very big secret, and who has to go do more and more outlandish things to keep that secret. Meanwhile, there is the romantic subplot about his relationship with his ex-wife (who also is his boss).We folks out in Popcornland really get peeved at Hollywood types sometimes.
I'm thinking of Jennifer Lopez at a London hotel, allegedly demanding that the staff move all her luggage out of a certain room into a different one because her ex-boyfriend Puff Daddy supposedly had once stayed in the room.
I'm thinking of Catherine Zeta-Jones allegedly telling the court that one million GB pounds wasn't a lot of money for her bridal pictures. The over-the-top, diva antics of Winona Ryder's character at the start of this movie thus are both barbed exaggerations and also sadly believable.Speaking of Winona Ryder's character, she has a later scene where she reads for a part in "Eternity Forever." Winona's whole scene is understated and rings true. Bravo, Winona!I found Al Pacino believable as Viktor Taransky the arty director; he made me forget all the gangster/cop roles he used to play.Rachel Roberts (Simone) should also be commended for rising to the acting challenges of this movie, both in the art-movie sequences and in the green-screen (black-screen) VFX work.Any comedy has plot holes -- get over it. The only p.h. that bothered me in this picture was the 5.25-inch floppy in the disk drive.Two good, ironic lines from this movie: 1) Someone slamming Taransky, "He's not that good an actor," when we know that Simone's acting is Taransky's acting, in drag. 2) Simone to a television interviewer: "Why I like working with Viktor Taransky is that his films aren't all about special effects." Simone herself is the mother of all special effects.
Isn't satire supposed to say something?
posted on 12 Apr 2009It seems that western film viewers are divided into two camps: the critics who attempt to judge according to elitist values, and the 'what the heck? It's just a movie...' camp. I guess the point is with a satire it's supposed to attack values in order to make an audience want change. The sad thing about this movie is that it doesn't attack anything obvious. North American audiences (generally) have long been expected to idolise computer 'enhanced' women (er ... just about everyone in movies), computer-generated women (Lara Croft, anyone), and plain old animations. (I swear I know at least two men who thought that the Little Mermaid was hot...)So, the main premise of the film is stupid. The satire is limper that a six week old lettuce leaf. Pacino is awful and unconvincing - mind you, I rarely find him convincing. And yet again we are expected to believe that a much younger woman falls for him (again) thanks to the cunning manipulation of the daughter. Why is it that these kids can always solve problems so easily? Maybe the next movie by this writer will be gently and humorously criticising the church for being single minded and corrupt, or shoppers for being gullible, or big businesses for selling us things we don't need. Come on - let's find a new target and at least strive some kind of originality.
It's like a fine wine baby...
posted on 27 Mar 2009I was fortunate enough to see a screening of this film before its wide release date. I must say that the trailers do not do this film justice; it is a very intelligent satire that provides commentary on many things including Hollywood as an industry, the audience as a questionable (flawed) jury, the personal conflicts of greed and guilt, and what it means to "be in control" - all within the context of a very effective comedy. The film has several genuinely funny moments and I left the screening not only with a sense of satisfaction, but with the feeling that this film will only become more relevant with time. Simone is a very well executed film and raises thought-provoking questions (though nothing new) about the industry and the proverbial "human condition" while being funny. I, too, was pleasantly surprised.
This might be an Oscar nominee for the script
posted on 21 Mar 2009When I decided to see S1m0ne, I was expecting something else, a movie on the use of computers to create virtual reality. This is not the case, it is only the set-up for the film, even if the director could ask someone (not necessarily an expert) about the IT used in the film. But the film is not about virtual reality. It is about virtual stupidity of the people, who believe only what they want to believe. And if the truth you give them is not what they expected, they don't accept it. If you decide to watch this movie, free your mind before the start of the movie. I give this movie a 9, for the script, and forget about the goofs.
Ugh..
posted on 19 Mar 2009I'm entertained by most movies, but not this one. It was one of those rare movies (for me anyways) where halfway through you just want to turn it off and do something else, but you've already invested an hour so you might as well finish it to see what happens, even if it's predictable. There were a few good moments, Al Pacino gave a good performance as usual, but I would not recommend it to anyone. It could have been a lot better.
The Simone Deception : extremely profound
posted on 17 Feb 2009No wonder why most Americans dislike this piece of film. It talks merely about Delusion Creation and how it influences millions of people. After watching this movie i expected to see it on the IMDb top 250, but it was not there. Most reviews do concentrate on the plot technological flaws of the film and forget about the main idea. Here there is a talented director who was able to deceive millions of people not with the intention of mere deception but he was somehow obliged to do so to prove himself. Ring any bells? Yes exactly! It's all about American politics! The irony here is when he wanted to reveal his secret nobody wanted to believe him. I do not want to go through this anyway. Al Paccino was superb in his role. The film also talks about 'Art of Human Creation'. Remember the time it takes Viktor to create Simone's first picture was nine months. Also his name is of the first scientist managed to create humans in fiction. In short, this film is more profound than it seems to be. Try to give it another chance and don't stick to the floppy and the virus removal points. When the food is highly delicious it will be impolite of you to comment on the bad color of the table cover!
Amusing
posted on 11 Feb 2009A frustrated Hollywood director gets tired of dealing with temperamental actresses and is near bankrupt as a man approaches him with an offer of a problem-free, always available digitally generated actress that could save his career.The low ratings this film has got are a serious sign that not everyone knows when to take things seriously or just watch them for fun. It is a good laugh. The plot flows naturally and although somewhat absurd is believable. It is more of a satire than a serious critique towards Hollywood. Some very impressive aspects such as the many means they come up with to fake Simone's presence. The casting is great, Al Pacino stands out as always. Worth watching.8/10
awful
posted on 03 Feb 2009thats pretty much it i wont even grace this with a review it was so bad that when we did go see it we were the only ones there and it got so bad we just messed around in the theater for an hour now some of you may think "well then you weren't really watching so how could you really know"? well to them i say forget you i watched it again too make sure it was as bad as i thought and it was just plain out DO NOT WATCH THIS!EVER! I just hope that so many years after it has come out that no one still think that this would be a good movie to watch and i have no idea what possessed people to rate this anything other than 1 so please don't watch this unless your getting money out of it
great performance by Al Pacino
posted on 01 Feb 2009I believe 'Simone' is a very important movie not only because of its ironical criticism of the computer technology but also because of revealing the artificiality of the filmmaking industry. It is both funny and sad to see how media creates its heroes and applauses everything they do even though they are not pleasing at all. Al Pacino is amazing,as usual and carries the movie right to the very end. I can't understand what Pacino's spell is, but each time I watch his performance, I become totally hypnotized. Mr.Pacino is definitely one of those few gifted people and one of the greatest actors of our century. I'm sure after you watch this movie,a question will arise in your mind about where the world is coming to. Even my 9 year old daughter loved this movie and insists that we watch it again. I highly recommend this movie to anyone who wants to see what acting really is.
Not as bad as you think
posted on 20 Jan 2009As you probably already know, S1m0ne was a huge bomb in the USA and some say it's the worst of the year, worst from pacino, just walk out, etc. I disagree with all of them. . .S1m0ne is a decent but forgettable comedy.Although it's not hilarious, I guess you Pacino fans should see it. Though on rare occasions Pacino does comedies, it's kinda fun to see him do one. The directing, acting and script are all decent, and it fits in pretty well-- not too much or anything (violence, sex, language, etc.) but it's not for all ages (not because of content, kids will find it boring). Maybe it is just a misunderstood movie, but it's worth a look. Grade: B
Very funny and entertaining movie about the actor-director relationship.
posted on 14 Jan 2009It´s a very funny and entertaining movie about the actor-director relationship. Starts with a big actress played quite well by Winona Ryder leaving the shooting of a movie, and the director, played correctly by veteran Al Pacino, trying to convince her otherwise. Then he regrets on how the power is all on the actors and not on the director, who is, for Pacino´s character, the real artist. So the excuse that comes up to speak about this is a new program designed by a computer genius that invents a digital actress. It has some very hilarious moments. On the other hand, Viktor Taransky (Pacino´s character), who is such a wonderful artist, wants back his ex-wife, played by Catherine Keener, who is a total climber, a plague in the movie industry. The truth is, Taransky is actually a mediocre. There are a couple of games with the eyes and stuff.Jay Mohr is wonderfully funny as always. We want you in bigger roles, Jay! But not in cheap horror movies! It has some mediocre dialogues and monologues. But anyway, it´s worth it.
Spectacular, wonderful, funny, great, perfect movie
posted on 19 Dec 2008This is horrible. I almost trusted the stupid comments of the rest of these people, and i almost didnt see the movie. FOR GODS SAKES, DO NOT PAY ATTENTION TO THEM. This movie is SPECTACULAR. Its funny, and really deep, and the ending is great ... please, please dont read these other reviews, and just see the movie already! You will love it. Trust me, i usually dont like movies like this, but it was really great, Al Pachino is sooo good in it, and it has a lot of really good inside Hollywood jokes.
Not Funny, Not Serious, Not...
posted on 30 Aug 2009Aside from Pacino doing what you've seen him do elsewhere, the only reason to see S1mOne is to pipe dream what it could have been with a Preston Sturges, even a Mel Brooks at the helm. How on earth could Pacino's Taransky's sarcasm fail to leach into his female Mortimer Snerd. He speaks his dubs softly, almost as if he were Edgar Bergen throwing his voice. The film's as bland as Simone's face on the poster. Gattica I've forgotten. The Truman Show had Jim Carrey, but I recall mainly the dome. For a range of hints of what's missing, try Max Headroom, Network, "The Producers, Andromedia (variant spellings abound), Sullivan's Travels.