Rating: 
Summary: A Satirical Tour de Force
Review: I really enjoyed this movie and can't understand why more people aren't going to see it...This is in my top Al Pacino performances. And Rachel Roberts did a great job on her first role. Remembering the days when the studios owned the stars unlike now when stars call the shots, Victor Taransky yearns for that kind of control again. A software genius provides him a means of making that dream come true. But that dream soon takes on a life of its own and that's when the fun begins....
Rating: 
Summary: Fantasy vs. Reality......Actorwise
Review: "SImone" love it or despise it...the movie overall was likeable. Pacino is Viktor Taransky a washed up film director gets a second chance to complete his film that Winona Ryder walks from. His miracle is a program that he receives from a fan of his work. Simone short for "Simulation One" the name of the program he creates his dream actress. Simone is the hit of hollywood but to keep his hot new discovery under wraps he must masquerade or pretend that she does exist but how long can Pacino keep the charade going? Simone is also supported by Catherine Keener, Pacino ex and head of the film studio and actor Jay Mohr.
Rating:
Summary: 'Simone' Satire Impresses With Synthetic Reality
Review: In the new comedy-satire S1M0NE, Al Pacino stars as Victor Taransky, a washed-up director who is given the gift of "Simulation One," or "Simone." She's a virtual actress whose voice, talent, and beauty are all real, even though she is not. She's a complex computer-simulated image that Victor can mess around with, by putting her in interviews, films, and live music concerts. After Victor's real actress walks off the set of his latest film, he's determined to win some respect back from his daughter and his wife (Catherine Keener), who also happens to be the studio's boss. To earn respect, nine month's later, he finishes the film. To his surprise, everyone's asking about this mystery lead actress named Simone. Expecting to get nailed for his "digital replacement," Simone passes off as the real thing, to his surprise and ours. She's an overnight sensation and becomes more famous than Victor ever imagined. Soon, through phony excuses and technological alterations, Simone becomes a living image, who's biggest secret is kept hidden from her fans, and everyone except the creator. Throughout the film, we're reminded to be careful of what we create. Andrew Niccol's smart and witty comedy has great acting and an interesting premise that doesn't die out. The satire is humorous, as Rachel Roberts brings poise and beauty to her one-dimentional star character. You should see "Simone," as the film needs its viewers. As critics have had mixed opinions, Pacino definitely shines. Though the film's interpretation of reality is a little too synthetic for us humans, "Simone" was virtually enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: It's out there.
Review: The technology used in the movie "S1m0ne" is already out there. And we are talking every single thing in the movie is out there. The lip-synch the video to 3D motion detection in real time. All the manipulations including drag and drop of a photo smile on a 3D model is if not existent in this form is existent in some other. BTW, I hope we will find out if there was a real actress used at any time in the movie. I am Software Engineer, so it is important to me...:)
but technology aside this movie was quite a ride. The depth with which Simone possesses Victor towards the end of the movie is unbelievable. It really does take a great actor to make such a movie look real, but I must say I would consider this work as an improvement from the director's earlier works. This movie's underlying trend is as strong as GATACA's ideology, but at the same time it is based somewhat on "The Truman Show" celebrity phenomenon, and the ending to it is not as idealistic as in both of the above.
Rating:
Summary: Good Movie,Bad Ending
Review: Simone started off a little dull but the middle of the movie made up for that.The ending of Simone has nothing to compensate for it because the ending is the reason I only gave the movie 4 stars. How did a great movie like Simone do so bad at the box office? Al Pancio who is usally a drama actor goes for the comendy role so nobody gives him a chance. The plot of Simone is very simple.Victor is played by Al Panico who is a director of movies for a studio owned by his ex wife Ellane played by Cathrine Keener(Being John Malcovich,Death to Smoochy,Lovely and Amazing).His lead actress played by Wynoia Ryder for his new movie SUNRISE,SUNSET just dumped his movie.Ellane dumps Victor and Victor decides to find a new actress. Luckly for him an old friend of his named Hank hasn't left his computer for 8 years giving him a fatel eye tumor and Victor inherits something from him.Computer hardware for Simulation One or if you get rid of ulation you get Simone who is the perfect actress.She listen's to you and is always on time and everybody thinks that she is a real actress. Victor has to keep his secret by telling everybody that Simone needs her privacy and that she is edited into movie scene via computer but the trouble begins when Simone begins to get a mind of her own. So Simone is a good watch aside from it's bad ending.
Rating:
Summary: Pacino Comedically Brilliant
Review: First DeNiro and now Pacino. Yes, they can both do comedy and they are superb at it as well. In fact, if comedy weren't considered a "lesser" art form, they may have come to our attention first through comedic vehicles. Instead, as the superstars of their generation in acting, they cut their teeth on heavy drama instead. I laughed virtually nonstop through this film about washed up film producer Victor Taransky who has to resort to creating a leading lady for his newest film out of a computer program left to him by a mad scientist who was his biggest fan. His creation succeeds but it also starts to take over his life where he can't get anyone to see him only his creation, Simone, short for "Simulation One." There are a number of excellent supporting roles as well, that lend to the hilarity, but it really is Pacino's show all the way and he is wonderful.
Rating: 
Summary: interesting premise, weak execution
Review: **1/2 Are movie stars an endangered species? Will they someday become obsolete? In the past several decades, as filmmakers have come to rely more and more heavily on computer technology to bring their visions to life on screen, there's been a growing suspicion in the film industry that actors might one day become superfluous to the whole moviemaking process. There might even be some financial incentive for studios to explore this particular option. After all, why pay actors exorbitant salaries or put up with their temperamental tantrums when all a director need do is push a button and have a computer-simulated person deliver the perfect performance for him? Could "actors" become, in essence, nothing more than "special effects" to be inserted into the moviemaker's final product? Already today, a number of filmmakers, when confronted with having to film scenes involving massive crowds, have opted to forego hiring oodles of expensive extras, relying instead on the computer to supply all the requisite people for them. Now what would happen if some filmmaker suddenly had the technology necessary to do that with his main characters? Enter Simone - and all Hollywood gives a collective shudder. "Simone" is another high concept fantasy by Andrew Niccol, the writer/director who made "The Truman Show" a few years back. Like that earlier film, "Simone" is concerned with the issue of reality vs. illusion as it is played out in the modern world of our mass media culture. "Simone" tells the story of a down-on-his-luck film director, Viktor Taransky (Al Pacino) who, fed up with the rampant egotism of the stars he is forced to work with, finds a way to circumvent the problem when a "madman" scientist shows him how to create a cybernetic actress named Simone. Even though she is nothing more than a computer simulation, Simone ends up taking the deluded world by storm, achieving instant celebrity status and rescuing Taransky's faltering career in the process. "Simone" sounds great on paper, and I am sure that Niccol felt he was really making an incisive satire on both the moviemaking process and the shallowness of American pop culture. The problem is that "Simone" never achieves the level of sophistication in its execution that the premise - and the film's pedigree - would lead us to expect. We know what we are SUPPOSED to be thinking while watching "Simone" - that Hollywood is filled with rampant egotists and phonies, that moviemaking is based on manipulative illusions and that modern audiences are only too willing to fall for and even worship hollow and empty glamour at the expense of the really important things in life - but the heavy handed, humorless way in which the message is delivered robs the film of most of its incisiveness and point. In fact, there is really not one genuine laugh in the course of the film. The Hollywood insider stuff is obvious and overdone and much of the humor is of the harried-deceiver-running-around-trying-not-to-get-caught variety. We even have Viktor setting up a speakerphone "meeting" between Simone and her fellow actors, jumping into a golf cart and racing to his computer terminal in a nearby sound stage so that he can "speak" for Simone. The problem is that, apart from the corny slapstick nature of the whole setup, the scene doesn't make any sense anyway since Viktor - as Simone - never interacts conversationally with the actors, but simply delivers a speech to them which could have been prerecorded just as easily as the one he did for Simone to start the meeting with. Thus, all the madcap running around turns out to be for naught in the final analysis, since it is never even exploited for its own comic effectiveness. Despite the veneer of originality, almost everything about the film feels conventional and obvious, including the bit about how Victor is desperately trying to win back his ex-wife who just so happens to be one of the heads of the studio for which he works. (I wonder if Niccol and Woody Allen shared notes on this script, for I could swear that this was the very same storyline for "Hollywood Ending," yet another unsuccessful fantasy about the moviemaking process). In many ways, Niccol, as a writer, is as tied to phoniness and conventionality as the industry he is attempting to deride. And the ending, though "clever," completely violates the theme - of the importance of truth and integrity - that the filmmaker has been working towards all along. Pacino, despite the fact that he is often required to look a bit foolish as the madly racing around, harried director, ends up delivering a generally warm and sympathetic performance, managing to keep the character life-sized in the face of all the larger-than-life nonsense that is going on around him. Catherine Keener, one of the most compelling actresses working in films today, makes of his ex-wife a woman of wit, intelligence and compassion. Thanks to cinematographers Derek Grover and Edward Lachman, Niccol brings a sharp, burnished look to the film. The movie seems to be bathed in a kind of warm golden light, enhancing the slightly otherworldly quality Niccol's fantasy scenario demands. Yet, it is that scenario itself that, ultimately, spells defeat for "Simone." One appreciates the attempt to try something a little "different," but Niccol is simply not able to bring it all together in this particular instance. Yes, "Simone" fails at a higher level than the average Hollywood movie, but it is still, alas, a failure. Given a more sophisticated treatment, this "high concept" effort could have been a real knockout.
Rating: 
Summary: Simone
Review: It was a good movie!I think the acting could have been better.At points the movie jumped around in an odd way,but if your up for a unique movie staring Al Picino,and a beautifil girl, you got your movie!All in all it was a decent movie.Simone is gorgeous!
Rating: 
Summary: hysterical
Review: Okay, I thought this movie was a joke. My husband and I were laughing hysterically, but because it was so ridiculous. I am a HUGE Pacino fan, so this was disappointing. I still can not believe he would even take this role.
Rating:
Summary: Simone's Virtual Unreality Works Well
Review: In the new fantasy-comedy and Hollywood satire SIMONE, an old news director gets a chance to get back to the top. He creates a virtually perfect but one hundred percent computer-synthetic actress that unintentionally passes off as the real thing. Her super-stardom hits so fast, Victor (Al Pacino) doesn't have the nerve to tell her obsessive fans and the agreeable press otherwise. SIMONE is likeable because it exaggerates Hollywood with witty humor, while pulling along and interesting plot that ends on an original finale. From the creater of THE TRUMAN SHOW and GATTACA, the creation of SIMONE is a must see. But, keep in mind, just because you see something doesn't mean it's really there...because, a star is...created.
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