IMDb plot summary: A producer's film is endangered when his star walks off, so he decides to digitally create an actress to substitute for the star, becoming an overnight sensation that everyone thinks is a real person.
Directed by Andrew Niccol. Starring Al Pacino, Catherine Keener, Evan Rachel Wood, and Rachel Roberts.
(Spoilers.)
All right. So about an hour and a half into the movie, it was clearly ridiculous and unbelievable (and Al Pacino is way miscast) but also fun, and I was having a great time following the crazy antics Victor had to pull preserving Simone's secret identity. I was ready to put this alongside Cypher and Lifeforce as sci-fi flicks that were nonsensical but a lot of fun to watch.
And then... that last half hour happened.
WHAT.
A whole third act is introduced (badly), played out (badly and hurriedly), and resolved (badly and abruptly). Did you know that taking an antique floppy disc that has a virus on it out of a computer will not only remove the virus from the computer but will completely restore all the corrupted files? That is just one of the nonsensical resolutions that happen here. Granted, suspension of disbelief is very necessary for this film, but this just went way too far.
The worst part is that none of that awful ending is necessary. It could EASILY have been wrapped up almost any other way and made way more sense. It felt like there was last-minute pressure to do something "more" with it, so Niccol sat down and spent maybe 10 minutes writing this mess of a conclusion.
A lame-but-fun movie turned into a lame-and-awful one. So disappointing.
1.5 stars.
Flickchart: #1659 out of 2304, below Cassandra's Dream and above Creation.
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