Top Box Office Movies

Simone (2002) New Line Cinema
1 hr. 55 mins.
Starring: Al Pacino, Rachel Roberts, Catherine Keener, Evan Rachel Wood, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Jason Schwartzman, Jay Mohr, Winona Ryder
Directed by: Andrew Niccol

S1m0ne

Rating:

E-MAIL FRANK OCHIENG

Photo: New Line Cinema

So what does one do when a tempermental leading lady walks out on a movie project and leaves the whole production stranded? Well, if you're art film director Viktor Taransky (Al Pacino), then you improvise by creating an impeccable starlet for the ages. In director-writer Andrew Niccol's uneven fantasy/comedy satire "Simone", he sets out to skew the whole ridiculous notion of fame and the willingness of adoring fans to embrace the concept of celebrity despite the unknown ruse that is developed in the process.

Niccol, who has on his cinematic resume' the wonderful screenplay for "The Truman Show", pretty much revisits some of the same elements of public adoration put forth in "Simone". But the problem with Niccol's efforts here is that he never completely goes for the jugular vein in satirizing the preoccupation with the corrupt politics behind moviemaking and the giddy moviegoing enthusiasts who blindly follow the high-priced hype of this very same film industry. "Simone" (or S1m0ne as the title refers to) is too light-hearted for its own good and lacks the bite of a vehicle that could have been devilishly clever in racking over the coals the cynicism involving the flim flam of filmmaking.

Pacino's Viktor Taransky has a lot on his mind, particularly when his demanding star (a cameo by the real-life scrutinized, publicity-dodging legal lass Winona Ryder) storms off the movie set. Once a mover-and-shaker in the movie business, Viktor no longer has that visible clout. As a result, he has to humble himself by working for his ex-wife, a studio boss named Elaine Christian (Catherine Keener, playing yet another entertainment executive as she did in the forgettable "Death to Smoochy"). Viktor is in a bind and needs to compensate for the reels of footage that he is accountable for thanks to his movie star's abrupt departure. In short, the filmmaker has to complete his picture otherwise he's definitely washed up for certain.

With time running out, Viktor has troubling finding a worthy actress in Hollywood to step in and save his project (c'mon now - this guy couldn't find ANY suitable actress to replace his former mousy-looking headliner... please!). When an off-the-wall dying software scientist/inventor named Hank (Elias Koteas) offers to save Viktor's movie bacon by offering him a hard drive disk that contains his creation S1m0ne, his luck begins to change. It turns out that inheriting Simone was the best thing that could happen for Viktor. He could manipulate this sensual synthespian (a synthetic actor created by the assistance of sophisticated computer-generated enhancements) to the point of his own benefit. No longer does Viktor have to cater to problematic, selfish artists thanks to the arrival of Simone.

Despite Viktor's reservations about the usage of computers, he seems mighty competent after awhile in the way he controls Simone's every move. When he inserts her into the film as a "fake" leading actress unbeknownst to an unsuspecting crowd, the movie does extremely well therefore transforming the computer-made cutie into a household name. Soon everybody wants a piece of Simone through more movies, advertisements, singing engagements, etc. More importantly, Viktor Taransky is a major player once again - even though he'll eventually have a price to pay for his convenient deception.

"Simone" clumsily juggles the issue about technological tidbits in moviemaking that merely comes off as a perfunctory afterthought. To trivialize the impressive work that these technicians do to preserve the magical imagination behind this aspect of filmmaking is a blatant disservice to say the least. Although the premise is farfetched to begin with, Niccol doesn't really have fun with the exaggerated possibilities of exploiting this implausible comedic yarn. One could overlook the credibility problems if the film had the audacious gumption to parlay its silly-minded satire into a naughty worthwhile commentary about the fakery and fickleness of Hollywood and its interested onlookers.

But "Simone" is just satisfied with being a tepid spoof that's afraid to go out on the limb and be scathing at will. Some portion of the movie will garner a few chuckles no doubt and Edward Lachman's touch in cinematography will elevate "Simone" as this "bigger-than-life" cyberbabe (although the digital animation stand-in duties should be credited also to the participation of model Rachel Roberts as well). As for Pacino, he seems awkwardly out of sync with his character and spends more time gawking at the camera than he does making the camera work for him. The subplots involving pesky tabloid journalists ("Heavy's" Pruitt Taylor Vince and "Rushmore's" Jason Schwartman) and Viktor's loving daughter Lainey (Evan Rachel Wood, formerly of ABC-TV's drama "Once and Again") simply adds more unnecessary meat to an already bare bone.

"Simone" is a comedy that occasionally works in its efforts to concoct a smirky nod at the suspect artistic juices behind the strained creativity of Hollywood's moviemaking machine. This is mainly fabricated fluff that's spun here and this is not necessarily a bad thing. However, when there's a potential for a movie to seize its opportunity to the fullest, "Simone" should have exposed more of its heartless hard drive to give this flimsy computerized comedy some more edgy kick in its absurdity devoted to creating an ideal image for pop culture pundits.

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Frank Ochieng
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