Simone

Part Hollywood send-up and part child of Hollywood, pic shows pitfalls of using gimmicks to sell movies and uses the same gimmick to sell the movie itself. Perfect Tinseltown logic. Pacino is Viktor, a has-been filmmaker, who becomes a high tech Pygmalian when he creates an actress from scratch after inheriting a mad inventor's computer program. Solving his recent dilemma involving a temperamental star (Ryder), Viktor's digital thesp, Simone (short for simulated one) becomes a smash hit and revives his career in the process. Of course, the rabid tabloid press and public expect to see a real actress, not a synthespian, creating a host of publicity problems. Writer/director/producer Niccol is in familiar techno-wizardry territory here, but doesn't match his previous efforts.