O Grande Sonho de Simon

SIMON feels like a mashup of Woody Allen, Stanley Kubrick, and Mel Brooks. It is one of the strangest movies I have ever seen, and this is coming from someone who generally lives on a steady diet of cult oddities.

The whole thing is a satirical send-up of both intellectual snobs, low culture, consumption, and the religious mindset. The comedy is of the absurd variety, which might be too much for some tastes, but I laughed harder than I have in a long time at it. Alan Arkin is hilarious in the lead (his character's messiah complex is so well-done) and the supporting actors all hit the right notes.

I will say the film is a bit uneven in terms of pacing and biting off more material for satire than it knows what to do with (for example, I wish the TV-addicted cult had more to do). Things drag a little in around the 3/4 point, but not enough to make you sick of the movie. There is an element of drama in the last quarter which feels a bit out of tune with the previous insanity as well.

Still, this movie was fun. It's still in my brain. I can't stop thinking about (and laughing at!) it.

The Institute for Advanced Concepts is a group of five powerful scientists led by Dr. Carl Becker (Austin Pendleton). They are so brilliant that they have secured unfathomable government contracts to give them unlimited resources. Leon Hundertwasser (Max Wright) changes Nielsen ratings. Eric Van Dongen (Wallace Shawn) is trying to cross breed humanity with cockroaches. Then they read that over 60% of Americans believe in ET. They decide to hypnotize Prof. Simon Mendelssohn (Alan Arkin) with the help of Dr. Cynthia Malloy (Madeline Kahn) into thinking that he was an alien at birth and then abandoned. Lisa is his girlfriend and assistant.

Alan Arkin belongs to an early iteration of Second City. That's probably where he met Judy Graubart. She may be a good performer on the small stage but she's not one on the big screen. Madeline Kahn would be an infinitively more charismatic lead. The whole movie feels like a smartly written exercise that is too smart for its own good. Writer/director Marshall Brickman has an extensive resume which includes a lot of early work with Woody Allen. It's a satire but of what exactly is not clear. Is it a satire of scientists? Is it a satire of the media? Is it a satire of the military? It may be simply a satire of the modern world in general. Instead of becoming an overnight media sensation, I would be more interested if the group released him into the wilds of his own life. He starts acting crazy. His class becomes popular. He abandons Lisa for hot coeds and then he becomes a media sensation. Alan Arkin is a terrific performer. The story needs to figure out its heart and its soul to bring out the humanity in the alien. There are strange little lines that strike me as hilarious. "Lisa, a lady is dancing with a potholder." It's completely random and the movie probably needs more of that. It's a high concept comedy that is a little too high.

If you haven't seen this you are missing out on a real gem. It was an underground cult hit upon release, then vanished into obscurity. This is a clever, truly brilliant film and it's a true crime that it hasn't been released on DVD. One of Arkin's best performances, up there with Seven Percent Solution. A bizarre film that can appeal to all fans of Woody Allen films, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman TV show, etc. One highlight is the reference to the old TV program, Celebrity Bowling, which of course itself was one of the most bizarre things ever to hit TV screens. Worth the price of admission for that joke alone! Attention producers: DVD required asap please!

What a great film. I had never heard of this film before. I saw a video of this and was thoroughly entertained. If you are a Woody Allen fan, you have to seek this out! Marshall Brickman worked with Woody on Manhattan, Annie Hall, Sleeper...and it shines through this work. Alan Arkin is superb in his role...and Judy Graubart (who I was always infatuated with on THE ELECTRIC COMPANY)...oh, man, it is so nice to see her in a feature film! Austin Pendleton, Madeline Kahn, Wallace Shawn, Max Wright... They all round out a great cast! And Fred Gwynne as the sadistic army General...well that's the cherry on top!! See this if you can. PLEASE RELEASE THIS ON DVD!!

"Simon" is one of the strangest movies I have seen in quite some time. It's not the premise that is so strange - the bare bones of the plot read like they could be made into a typical comedy - but rather the execution. Although there are a number of attempts at humor throughout the movie (and I admit that I did find some of these attempts amusing), there is a strong serious undercurrent. It seems that the movie is trying to say something, though what that is I cannot say for sure. But there are deeper problem with the movie. It takes quite a while for it to get going, for one thing. And once it gets going, it seems to have a number of moments where key footage seems missing or wasn't filmed at all in the first place. But all the same, I am kind of glad that I saw the movie, because it's the rare major studio production to really be strange and offbeat - which is refreshing in an age of cookie cutter plots and lack of imagination. I would recommend this movie to viewers who want something different and are ready to accept something that is an interesting failure of sorts.