Simon

1980

Comedy / Sci-Fi

3
IMDb Rating 6.3/10 10 1078 1.1K

Plot summary

A group of scientists take Simon, a psychology professor, as a test person for a brainwashing experiment and try to convince him that he is a living being from another planet.


Uploaded by: FREEMAN
August 27, 2024 at 01:04 AM

Top cast

Madeline Kahn as Dr. Cynthia Mallory
Wallace Shawn as Eric Van Dongen
Alan Arkin as Simon Mendelssohn
Fred Gwynne as Maj. Gen. Korey
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
924.59 MB
1280*720
English 2.0
NR
us  
29.97 fps
1 hr 40 min
Seeds 7
1.67 GB
1920*1080
English 2.0
NR
us  
29.97 fps
1 hr 40 min
Seeds 19

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by merklekranz 5 / 10

"Simon" is a split decision....

A conglomeration of ideas from older sci-fi films, especially Woody Allen's "Sleeper", are given a new spin in "Simon". A "think tank" that has been living off unlimited government grants, while coming up with nothing but nonsense, devises a plan to startle the planet. They will present the world with a "space visitor" of their making, and record humankind's reaction to the momentous event. These beginning moments of "Simon" are pure gold, clever, hilarious, and entertaining. With the "birth" of their creation a number of truly comic situations are presented. This does not last however, and the film gradually degenerates into silliness. "Simon" has a lot of great ideas that are simply not fully developed, or allowed to merely drift into "slapstick" - MERK

Reviewed by robert-temple-1 7 / 10

Austin Pendleton Meets the Space Shuttle

This is a very funny film written and directed by Marshall Brickman, who wrote Woody Allen's ANNIE HALL, MANHATTAN, and MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY, as well as numerous other films. He only directed four films, of which this is the first, and it shows the least directorial skill unfortunately. His second film LOVESICK (1983, see my review) was much more satisfactory as a film. SIMON should have been far more hilarious than it is, but Brickman was too inexperienced and did not plot the pace sufficiently to keep the action moving, so that it repeatedly sags with people talking for too long, and with too much space between the jokes. However, it is very good value if you are willing to go with the flow and not mind the minor faults. Austin Pendleton is the co-star, along with Alan Arkin, and Madeleine Kahn is one of the two female leads. Austin is my cousin, and I believe he and I met Maddy Kahn together for the first time at the Upstairs at the Downstairs when she was still doing live shows, long before she was ever in a movie. This film is a comic sci fi caper, where a think tank full of mad scientists interested in brainwashing techniques, which is run by Austin, choose Arkin for an experiment. They put him into an isolation tank for a very long period of sensory deprivation and persuade him that he is an alien. Much of the comedy then results from Arkin's behaviour once he comes to believe this. Wallace Shawn adds good support, as he always does. I won't spoil the ending by discussing what this all leads to, but 'a good time was had by all', as they say.

Reviewed by SnoopyStyle 6 / 10

odd satire

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.

Read more IMDb reviews

2 Comments

Be the first to leave a comment