Ameriatch One of the best films i have seen

MonsterPerfect Good idea lost in the noise

Hulkeasexo it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

FrogGlace In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

NateWatchesCoolMovies Andrew Niccol's S1mone is social satire at its cheeriest, a pleasant, endearing dissection of Hollywood mania and celebrity obsession that only hints at the level of menace one might achieve with the concept. It's less of a cautionary tale and more of a comedic fable, and better for it too. In a glamorous yet used up Hollywood, mega producer Viktor Taransky (Al Pacino with some serious pep in his step) needs to give his enterprise a makeover. His go-to star (Winona Ryder) is a preening diva who drives him up the wall, and there seems to be a glaring absence of creative juice in his side of the court. Something cutting edge, something brand new and organic, something no one else has. But what? Simone, that's what. After finding clandestine software left behind by a deceased Geppeto-esque computer genius (Elias Koteas, excellent), he downloads what lies within, and all manner of mayhem breaks loose. The program was designed to create the perfect virtual reality woman, flawless and capable in every way, including that of the cinematic thespian. Viktor sees this as gold and treats it as such, carefully introducing Simone (played by silky voiced model Rachel Roberts) to an unsuspecting film industry who are taken by storm and smitten. Simone can tirelessly churn out five Oscar worthy performances in a month, never creates on set drama, whips up scandals or demands pay raises. She's the answer to everyone's problem, except for the one issue surrounding her very presence on the screen: she isn't actually real. This creates a wildly hysterical dilemma for Pacino, a fiery Catherine Keener as a fellow executive, and everyone out there who's had the wool pulled over their starry eyes. It's the kind of tale we'd expect from Barry Levinson or the like, a raucously funny, warmhearted, pithily clever send up of the madness that thrives in the movie industry every day. There's all manner of cameos and supporting turns including Evan Rachel Wood, Jay Mohr, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Jason Schwartzman, Rebecca Romjin and the late Daniel Von Bargen as a detective who cheekily grills Pacino when things get real and the masses want answers. This is fairy tale land in terms of plausibility, but it's so darn pleasant and entertaining that it just comes off in a relatable, believable manner. Pacino is having fun too, a frenzied goofball who tries his damnedest to safeguard his secret while harried on all sides by colleagues and fans alike. Roberts is sensual and symmetrical as the computer vixen, carefully walking a tightrope between robotic vocation and emoting, essentially playing an actress pretending to be an actress who isn't even human, no easy task. It's a breezy package that's never too dark or sobering, yet still manages to show the twisted side of a famously strange industry. Great stuff.

larisa-karr I saw S1m0ne a few years ago, purely out of plot intrigue, and when I saw a copy of it at a thrift store, I picked it up.It's a good film, and a very unique one at that. The concept of the director being destroyed by this one magnificent star coupled with the public's insatiable appetite and gullibility makes for a very interesting plot. When S1m0ne is doing her concert, a line is stated "It's easier to deceive 100,000 people than just one." This is really the cornerstone of the whole film. The fact that she was on Time magazine for "Person of the Year" and had her own perfume out after squeaking out one meager film seemed ridiculous and completely horrible, but think about it. How much do we really know about celebrities? We see a couple of their films, we buy their friggin' underwear, we listen to their mass- produced auto-tuned albums, and yet we talk about them on a casual basis, like they were a part of our lives. We see them in the check-out line at the grocery store, we see them when we walk in the door to our homes and turn on the TV, and thus, we feel comfortable commenting and unleashing our opinions about the way they live their lives.The point of the film, and what makes it actually brilliant, is that the director is saying, yes, it may be ridiculous for her to receive the honours she did and be nominated twice for best actress in the same year (which would never happen), but would we really care if it did? No, we would probably just go along with it and continue our adoration like the mouthy paparazzi we all are. The level on which we think we know celebrities is predicated on nothing but the superficial, and S1m0ne stated this in a brilliant way.

Niklas Pivic Al Pacino plays a movie director with integrity who gets kicked by a movie studio, inherits a hard drive (!) through which he creates "Simone", a virtual human being, and from there films. Things do get tricky as he has to do stuff to make people think the virtual reality really is real. I cannot even begin to properly allow you to read how much I hate this film; it's like taking Philosophy 101, reading Descartes saying "I think, therefore I am" and then formulating your own theories thinking you're God, unknowing to the fact that somebody already did this before you, and that the plot and story are so wafer-thin that you just want to kill someone. Not to mention there are logical holes as big as our galaxy in this piece of crap, I want to kill everybody included in this film, and the end was so bad I wanted to Patrick Bateman myself. So why do I give it 2/10? I'm sleep deprived today, and this is the type of film I usually see when I can't think. This film made me realise it was horrible and stupid, and I shouldn't be able to do that. F-ing trash piece of garbage ill. AAAYEIAYEIYYEIYI!

bob the moo Fed up with the demands of stars, up and coming director Viktor Taransky is intrigued when computer scientist Hank Alano offers him the product of his derided research – a fully realistic computer generated actress, who Viktor christens Simone, short for Simulation One. He inserts her into the final cut of his film in place of the actress he threw off set and releases his film for testing before fear of what he has done overcomes him. Much to his surprise Simone is not spotted as a fake but rather hailed as the best new actress in Hollywood. He hides the truth from everyone but, as the hype machine gets into action, Simone becomes harder to control, far less conceal.S1m0ne was dismissed by many when it was released but to some it was worthy of mention alongside Truman Show. The comparison is generous in terms of quality and loose in regards material – both are social satires on the media in one form or another. S1m0ne focus on the world of film-making in a plot that, done right, could have been a really sharp and clever satire that also delivers some laughs. Here and there, this film is visible among what we can call "everything else" and we do get smart moments now and again but sadly the "everything else" is a problem. This sweeping grouping of material includes specifics as well as the general arch of the plotting. For example, the film sets itself off on a hiding to nothing by having Viktor being the only one in the know – the same jokes, the same commentary could have worked if the "studio" had been behind it all and we would have not had the absurdity of the plot that sees Viktor managing to keep his secret (particularly when that involves putting a dummy in a car and driving it from the passenger seat!).This situation does create other problems, all of which weaken the central potential of the idea. It doesn't help that some of the shots and scenes by Niccol puts the film in a rather "silly" light as if the film is a farce. Now, there is nothing wrong with the whole thing being a farce of sorts but it is an issue when it only happens occasionally because it all feels out of place. The cast try hard to make it work but the same uneven tone infects their dialogue and performances. At the time Pacino was criticised for his choice of project, but to me it was a brave move that he was not supported in. He somehow manages to make a lot of it work, but ultimately he cannot do it along and the end result is a character and narrative that don't convince, leaving him a bit exposed. Roberts is another problem – partly through her and partly the narrative. The plot has her becoming a massive global star across several forms of media within months of one performance – this puts a lot of pressure of Roberts to show us something that justifies this success, which she cannot do at any point. Again this problem is down to Niccol more than her, because he could have done a similar story within "the industry" and not blowing it up to the global level as he did. Supporting turns from Ryder, Mohr, Koteas, Vince and others all add solid enough bits and also their presence suggests they also thought the film would be better than it was.Sadly S1m0ne is all too basic a film which has a good starting point as an idea and an overall aim that could have been better than it was but unfortunately plenty of poor ideas in the delivery limit how good it is. The end result then is an uneven film that doesn't do much of value even as some parts of it are sharp and clever, other parts are plain daffy.