Simone ~ A witty, thought-provoking satire

I was unsure of whether I was fortunate or unlucky when I won sneak preview passes for Simone. I had heard almost nothing about the movie -–Al Pacino stars, Simone is probably short for SIMulation ONE, Simone is murdered(?) in the film, and conflicting opinions that it was a comedy or a drama. It was actually refreshing to head out to a movie with absolutely no expectations or preconceived notions of what I was about to see. No hyped expectations for the movie to reach, no comparisons to other flicks, nothing. Just a night of hopefully good entertainment.

Al Pacino plays Viktor Taransky. The film begins with Viktor picking the red Mike & Ike’s out of a dish in order to please the difficult (okay, let’s be honest, she’s a b*tch) star of his latest epic, Sunrise, Sunset. In fact he has gone so far to placate Nicola (Winona Ryder) that he’s changed the script so that she appears in every scene. This does nothing to make Nicola happy (it’s doubtful that Nicola is ever happy), and she storms off the set citing “creative differences”. Without Nicola there will be no Taransky film, and he’s fired by studio exec Elaine (Catherine Keener), who happens to be Taransky’s ex-wife and mother of his daughter Lainey (Evan Rachel Wood). Is Taransky ruined?

Enter Hank Aleno, a crazed and dying computer genius, played with the perfect amount of “nutcase” zeal by Elias Koteas. Hank has created a computer program that just may save Viktor’s career. This software enables Taransky to create the perfect leading lady for his film. She’s never late, cranky or unprepared, doesn’t care if she has red Mike & Ike’s or her trailer is smaller than a co-star's, never wants to claim all the credit and none of the blame. Viktor calls his computer generated actress Simone (yes, an abbreviation for SIMulation ONE), and bestows her with Lauren Bacall’s sultry voice, Grace Kelly’s blonde beauty, Sophia Loren’s voloptuousness, and the beautiful elegance of Audrey Hepburn.

Simone (Rachel Roberts) becomes an overnight sensation. Her first movie is a hit and Viktor is back on the A-list. He casts her in his next film, Eternity Forever, and she is a hit again. Simone becomes a bigger and bigger star, her own perfume, and a recording contract, larger than life. As she takes on a life of her own, Viktor finds himself losing his own; being reduced to a moviemaker that’s riding on Simone’s coattails.

So what does Viktor do? Is his fraud discovered? Does he “kill” Simone? How can you kill someone that doesn’t exist? But if everyone believes she exists (and Viktor has done an extremely convincing job in covering up his fraud), and she is killed, is it murder? Or does he just "kill" her career by putting her in incredibly horrid films that absolutely no one could possibly enjoy?

I really enjoyed this movie. When you combine a lovely script from Andrew Niccol with the talent of Pacino, Keener, Jay Mohr as an “intellectually-challenged” leading man, and Pruitt Taylor Vince as a tabloid reporter (Max Sayer) who falls in love with the incredibly perfect Simone, throw in a few dashes of greed, deception and opportunism, and add a liberal sprinkling of funny and well-delivered one-liners and you end up with a sharp and amusing study of celebrity. Everything “Hollywood” is addressed in this film. The filmmakers, actors, media and magazines. The co-star who just yesterday went shopping with Simone, the friend who had dinner with Simone last night, the name-droppers, the hangers-on, the wannabe’s, its all here, in all its pathetically amusing glory.

Pacino was delightfully amusing in trying to keep one step ahead of becoming discovered. Hologram concerts (in which Simone performs Carole King’s You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman), “live” remote television interviews, pretending he has Simone in a hotel room with him, (Max Sayer’s reaction to this is priceless), are all wonderfully entertaining. The fever pitch the tabloids and media pursue Simone is incredibly intense, and led to conversations after the movie about who creates what, does the media create the need to know more, or do the fans demand more about the stars they love. And how much is manufactured information? How much do fans really want to know? And just how easy is it to pull the wool over the eyes of the Tinsel Town Set?

All in all, I found this movie to be quite entertaining, as did my companion and the rest of the audience in attendance, if their laughs are any indication. These are all likeable characters, even with their myriad of imperfections in a “perfect” world. I found the acting to be strong on all counts, there is great chemistry between Keener and Pacino, the dialogue was wonderfully witty and it was so refreshing not to be deafened by a soundtrack. Go see it, I don't think you'll be disappointed. Oh, and if you stay past the credits (in which Simone is credited as being played by herself), there’s a little bit you might enjoy…anyone care for some Chicken Pot Pie?

Three and a half stars from me, but since there's no half stars it gets a four star rating.