Good start, but then it gets ruined

An action-packed slog

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

This is a very smart, funny, and observant film about Hollywood, the media in general, and the public, and how they manipulate each other. The film pokes good natured fun at Hollywood and the media, and also makes some good points about the manner in which some stars become almost gods, worshipped by millions of fans, and how people are inclined to make very favorable assumptions about those who they adore. Pacino - superb as the down-trodden producer. Looks younger at the beginning of the film, and as Simone (his computer generated protégé played by Rachel Roberts), wins the film world, his appearance ages as the stress of maintaining the facade takes its toll. There is a poignant moment in the film, when Pacino is creating Simone's voice in a taped interview. In that moment, he makes you realize he loves his creation, and at the same time, becomes aware of his own underlying Hollywood narcissism as Simone is as an extention of his own personality and creativity. It explores the dark side of human with light humour and is disturbing as a social commentary on the adverse effects on computer proliferation. This comedy is smart, screechingly funny and unpretentious fun that comes as real and into-your-face as it can be.Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

S1m0ne (SIMONE) is a creative little piece of filmmaking from the young New Zealand writer director Andrew Niccol (Gattaca, The Truman Show, Lord of War, The Host, Dali & I:The Surreal Story). While this may not register in the 'best films of the decade' category, it certainly challenges both our thinking and our imagination and creates a sense of wonder at just how far we have come with computer generation. Has-been movie director/producer Viktor Taransky (Al Pacino, shining) faces disaster when his star Nicola Anders (Winona Ryder) deserts his latest desperate need for a hit film and comes up with the alternative - create a superstar by using a digital synthespian, a creature who via computer codes is destined to do anything the creator decides. And voila! Simone (or rather S1m0ne - Sim-One, the technology used to creature such ventures.) Viktor is saved as Simone (Rachel Roberts) becomes the superstar of Viktor's dreams - winning awards, and Viktor's heart - only requiring that he ultimately tell the public of his sham, a deed he attempts to avoid through means that place him in big trouble. The story is fantasy, but in Niccol's hands the fantasy becomes possibility and makes us question just how far advanced have we become...perhaps too far. The strong supporting cast includes, along with Winona Ryder, Catherine Keener, Benjamin Salisbury, Jay Mohr, Evan Rachel Woods, and of course the digitally altered Rachel Roberts. The test of a good comedy is whether it can incorporate tragedy and still entertain. This film succeeds. Grady Harp

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!

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.