Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
The career of a disillusioned producer, who is desperate for a hit, is endangered when his star walks off the film set. Forced to think fast, the producer decides to digitally create an actress "Simone" to sub for the star — the first totally believable synthetic actress.
S1m0ne has a genuinely clever satirical premise about Hollywood's obsession with image and artificiality, and Al Pacino brings his usual watchable energy, but the film never fully commits to either its comedic or dramatic ambitions. The plot starts promisingly but meanders into contrived situations and loses steam in the second half. Cinematography is functional but unremarkable for the era. The ending feels rushed and unsatisfying, undercutting the satire it had been building. The novelty of the concept — a virtual star fooling the world — was reasonably fresh for 2002 though not executed with enough precision to feel truly distinctive.