Simone
dir. Niccol
Opens Fri Aug 23
Various Theaters
A film director loses his lead actress halfway through production and, desperate to finish his “masterwork,” decides to create his own actress via computer. This is the plot to Andrew Niccol’s Simone–a bland, unfortunate Hollywood satire that aims to skewer the cult of celebrity, but instead manages to shoot itself in the foot.
Not that Niccol, whose previous directing effort was the pseudo-interesting Gattaca, doesn’t exert himself trying to make said skewering worthwhile. As a comedy, Simone manages a few well-placed shots (the bulk of which come courtesy of the always brilliant Catherine Keener), but as satire, it fails miserably due to the sheer unbelievability of the storyline’s various twists and turns.
Al Pacino plays Viktor Taransky, a once marginally successful auteur fallen on hard times. About to lose his studio deal, he creates his lead actress, named “Simone” (after Simulation One, the computer program that created her), and unleashes her on the public. Stunningly beautiful and more than able to act her way out of a wet paper bag, Simone takes the world by storm. Unfortunately for Taransky, Simone, awash in critical accolades and an obsessed public, soon grows out of his control.
At its best, satire walks a fine line between the ridiculous and the grounded. Simone is not satire at its best. Not even close. The joke–that celebrity-obsessed culture doesn’t care about the authenticity of its stars–is a good one, ripe for exploration, but Niccol has squandered it. Technically flawless and exceedingly well acted, Simone nonetheless rings as hollow as Simone herself.