S1m0ne

New Line Home Video | Release Date: August 23, 2002

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

49	METASCORE Mixed or average reviews based on 38 Critic Reviews

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Mixed:

Negative:

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

New Times (L.A.)Robert Wilonsky

That's not to say Simone doesn't offer a good time. Shove aside its self-righteous agenda and it's a deft kick, a light comedy whenever it's not trying to play heavy. And it's bolstered by Al Pacino in a lively performance.

David Denby

I don't believe that anyone will have much trouble seeing what's wrong with the picture, but it's one of those bad movies that you remember with a smile a year later. [9 September 2002, p. 162]

Peter Rainer

Writer-director Andrew Niccol throws around a lot of intriguing ideas in this film, and even though his ambitions are more expansive than his talent, he's managed to come up with something that credibly resembles the shape of things to come, Hollywood-style. Read full review

TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh

The result is gorgeous, if ultimately shallow -- much like Simone herself. Read full review

Scott Foundas

Attempts to delve beneath the surface of Hollywood's rampant narcissism and fascination with technology, but ultimately feels like just one more in the long line of films this year about the business of making movies. Read full review

Shawn Levy

It's a strange, uneven film, hilarious in moments and tin-eared in others, alternately subtle and hammer-handed, acid and dull, as schizophrenic as "Signs" and probably, like that film, best enjoyed in discrete chunks rather than as a whole that needs to be digested equally all at once. Read full review

Peter Travers

Writer-director Andrew Niccol -- gets this Hollywood satire off to a rousing start. But the middle flattens, despite Pacino firing on all cylinders. And the end just nose-dives into something silly and, worse, sentimental. Read full review

Hank Sartin

The film never quite achieves the sharp edge satire demands, largely because director Andrew Niccol, who was so good at managing tone in "Gattaca," can't decide whether to go with nasty or hilariously farcical. Read full review

Jonathan Foreman

Staggers between flaccid satire and what is supposed to be madcap farce. Read full review

Rene Rodriguez

Because it's Pacino, though, Simone is never quite boring. Read full review

Andrew O'Hehir

It's not merely that these subjects have already been satirized to the point of ultimate tedium; more importantly, Simone just isn't very funny. Read full review

Rick Groen

If this is satire, it's the smug and self-congratulatory kind that lets the audience completely off the hook. Effective satire, the Swiftian brand, seduces us first and then implicates us in the seduction -- we become a target too. But this stuff never gets past the initial step -- it's toothless, as innocuous as the puffery it pretends to skewer. Read full review

Collin Levey

But for what it is, the film supplies enough laughs to bury most nagging existential questions.

Chris Kaltenbach

It's also unclear just what Niccol wanted this film to be: a satire? a spoof? a black comedy? a pointed social commentary? Perhaps all of the above - way too many hats for a movie this slight to wear.