One of my favorite movies is The Truman Show. It messes with reality; I actually thought that I could be in "The Sam Show". In the movie Simone, which is directed by the writer of TTS Andrew Niccol, it deals with the same type of problem with reality-is it real or is it not?
Al Pacino plays Viktor Taransky, a faded Hollywood Director. When his star actress Nicola (Winona Ryder) leaves the set because her trailer is too short, he looks for a new person to star in his movie "Sunrise Sunset". Ryder shouldn't have accepted this part; a famed actress like her could have gone to bigger things. (Incidentally, her acting when auditioning later in the movie is better than the whole acting she did in Mr. Deeds!)
A man gives Viktor a computer program called "Simulation One", where you can create digital actors with a click of a mouse. He tries and creates a great new actress called Simone (from Simulation One, get it?), and convinces the studio to give her a try, including his ex-wife Elaine (Catherine Keener). Keener had a certain dry wit to her, a little sarcastic point in her that added to the movie.
Simone (who is played by Canadian model Rachel Roberts) becomes an instant hit. But, everyone wants to meet her and talk to her. So Viktor tries harder to make her appear "live" at concerts, etc. I liked the fantasy that Viktor created an instant hit, and no matter what she did, she was loved.
However, it wasn't as funny as I had hoped. It had a couple laugh-out-loud moments, but not as many as I wanted. Unlike The Truman Show, it didn't create the mystery of the Show. Another thing that bothered me was his daughter Lainey. Sometimes she seemed to be mid-teens, sometimes pre-teen.
Pacino reminded me of Woody Allen-getting the girls who are half as old as him. I did like, however, that the ending is not wrapped up in a nice little bow and is express shipped to everyone's hearts. I enjoy the endings that don't tell everything. The special effects of Simone on the computer were pretty neat-but why would that computer use 5 1/2 inch floppy disks?
I felt like the movie dragged on for a little too long; it could have been ended sooner. But I did like it except for the couple points I mentioned, and I would recommend it to anyone.
My rating: 6/10
Rated PG-13 for sexual situations (pretty mild)
Al Pacino plays Viktor Taransky, a faded Hollywood Director. When his star actress Nicola (Winona Ryder) leaves the set because her trailer is too short, he looks for a new person to star in his movie "Sunrise Sunset". Ryder shouldn't have accepted this part; a famed actress like her could have gone to bigger things. (Incidentally, her acting when auditioning later in the movie is better than the whole acting she did in Mr. Deeds!)
A man gives Viktor a computer program called "Simulation One", where you can create digital actors with a click of a mouse. He tries and creates a great new actress called Simone (from Simulation One, get it?), and convinces the studio to give her a try, including his ex-wife Elaine (Catherine Keener). Keener had a certain dry wit to her, a little sarcastic point in her that added to the movie.
Simone (who is played by Canadian model Rachel Roberts) becomes an instant hit. But, everyone wants to meet her and talk to her. So Viktor tries harder to make her appear "live" at concerts, etc. I liked the fantasy that Viktor created an instant hit, and no matter what she did, she was loved.
However, it wasn't as funny as I had hoped. It had a couple laugh-out-loud moments, but not as many as I wanted. Unlike The Truman Show, it didn't create the mystery of the Show. Another thing that bothered me was his daughter Lainey. Sometimes she seemed to be mid-teens, sometimes pre-teen.
Pacino reminded me of Woody Allen-getting the girls who are half as old as him. I did like, however, that the ending is not wrapped up in a nice little bow and is express shipped to everyone's hearts. I enjoy the endings that don't tell everything. The special effects of Simone on the computer were pretty neat-but why would that computer use 5 1/2 inch floppy disks?
I felt like the movie dragged on for a little too long; it could have been ended sooner. But I did like it except for the couple points I mentioned, and I would recommend it to anyone.
My rating: 6/10
Rated PG-13 for sexual situations (pretty mild)