Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageS1mØne (2002)
Director: Andrew Niccol
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Actors have long been getting in a lather at the idea that the movies might one day dispense with their services entirely, so the 'what if?' scenario proposed by writer/director Niccol seems a little off the shelf. But its execution feels so thrown together you'd swear the film must have been written yesterday. Viktor Taransky (Pacino), a self-regarding Hollywood auteur, is belatedly brought to earth when his star actress (Ryder) quits their set over a trailer-size transgression, whereupon his ex-wife and studio boss (Keener) feels duty bound to pull the plug. Enter Simone (née Simulation One), a digital deus ex machina handed to him on a disc by Koteas' terminally ill geek. Sure enough, Taransky hunkers down with his programmable actress (actually model Rachel Roberts), and maybe nine months later, all the world is fawning over his new screen 'discovery'. The rest of the movie is an extended entertainment industry jerk-off, high on fantasies of an insatiably gullible public, low on real world affinity, with a shaggy dog plot stretched as thin as Taransky's scary teenage daughter.Author: NB
Cast & crew
Director: Andrew Niccol
Producer: Andrew Niccol
Cast: Al Pacino, Catherine Keener, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Jay Mohr, Jason Schwartzman, Stanley Anderson, Evan Rachel Wood, Daniel Von Bargen, Simone Rachel Roberts, Winona Ryder, Elias Koteas full cast
Genre(s): Science Fiction
Duration: 117 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Has David Cronenberg turned tame?
Has director David Cronenberg veered too far from his radical and bloody roots with new film 'A Dangerous Method'?
The 10 worst date movies
Just in time for Valentine's Day, we present ten of the least romantic films ever made
Where to watch this year's Oscar-nominated films
Find out where to watch 2012's Oscar-nominated films in London cinemas
10 unlikely badboy biopics
Featuring Phil Collins, Jeremy Clarkson, Nick Clegg, David Starkey and a host of other unlikely subjects
Interview: Sean Durkin on 'Martha Marcy May Marlene'
The first-time director of the brilliant new thriller discusses religious cults and robot boxing
Pop-up cinema for Valentine's Day
Side-step romantic clichés with some alternative Valentine’s viewing
What do you think?
Post your review now