Three and a half stars
3
By nomanisan
Simone is intelligent, creative, visually stunning, and relevant -- which makes its failure as entertaining science fiction disappointing.
Director Andrew Niccol's previous successes with "Gattaca" and "The Truman Show" should have ensured a strong showing with this film about technological deception and Hollywood self-delusion. But the script is badly cliched and key characters feel like mere archetypes. The resulting efforts at parody feel contrived.
Catherine Keener and Evan Rachel Wood perform their archetypes well enough (Keener exceptionally so). Winona Ryder is funny in a self-deprecating co-starring role as a difficult Hollywood diva. But Rachel Roberts, while attractive and seductive as a model, brings too little life to her virtual character Simone, and star Al Pacino is misused entirely.
Pacino's technologically backward character implausibly masters a futuristic technology that is dropped in his lap, and the script forces the character to spend much of the movie monologuing. Watching the movie is at times like watching an audio podcast. Ultimately, the movie has important things to say -- but it fails to make them, or the characters, feel important.
I still rate the film highly for its moments of brilliance -- its parodies of art films and vacuous co-stars, its depiction of easily seduced movie fans, its well-aimed shots at entertainment "news" media, and the visual polish of its set designs and its virtual star, Simone.