Watch It For The Rolling Stock: S1M0NE

Rachel Roberts as “Simone” with Alfa Romeo 2600.

By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG  S1M0NE (2002) via IMCDB.org

SOME movies are best watched just for the cars.

Ronin is an example of an action movie that was just an excuse to tie-in several really wild car chase scenes together in 122 minutes. It didn’t matter what the plot was, in fact, I can’t remember the plot. But I do recall the scenes where an Audi S8 repeatedly managed four wheel power slides through the streets of Paris.

S1M0NE is another such movie.

Released in 2002, directed by Andrew Niccol, and starring Al Pacino alongside the lovely Rachel Roberts the a sci-fi-ish S1M0NE is about a dried-up director (Pacino) who resorts to activating a dead fan’s fictional, graphically animated pop-icon – “Simone”  (Roberts)- and manages then to fool the world into believing the program is a real person.

An intriguing concept, but in execution the film asks us to suspend our disbelief once too often in  lots of scenes that rely on convenient framing to mask the obvious dubiousness of the film’s plot.

That said, let’s get back to the real reason that you’ll want to put S1M0NE in your Netflix cue – the continuous artful display of magnificent cars showcased in wildly color-corrected light.

Among the classics that play a significant role in the movie’s otherwise suspect plot are a  Bentley S3 Continental “Chinese Eye” coupe, a Mercedes-Benz 600 Pullman, a Jaguar XJ8 (X308), Citroen DS, and an Alfa Romeo 2600 Spider that you’ve seen in any number of Fellini films.

Unfortunately, the Chinese Eye Bentley meets a fender-bender in LA traffic in another dubious scene meant to convince us that the main characters are actually fooled by Pacino’s hoax.

But don’t let my quibbles throw you off the path to watching automotive art on the tube. For this, the movie’s well worth seeing. The black 600 on red leather interior alone should have its own star on the Hollywood walk of fame.