Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.

Matylda Swan It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Celia A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Walter Sloane Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

JasparLamarCrabb A wildly inventive absurdist farce from writer-director Marshall Brickman. An arrogant group of genius eggheads design a plot to see how the public will react to the news that an alien is living among them. They brainwash loony scientist Alan Arkin into believing he's from another planet. Once he escapes, all hell breaks loose. This is a wicked satire on massive consumption, television, fake science and a ton of other things. Brickman and co-writer Thomas Baum fill this movie with so many clever touches, it's a real comic feast. Arkin is brilliant in a performance that is, unfortunately, largely forgotten. The large cast also includes such great character actors as Austin Pendleton, William Finley, Max Wright and Wallace Shawn. Judy Graubart is excellent as Arkin's exasperated girlfriend. Fred Gwynne, Madeline Kahn and Adolph Green are in it too. Green's role has to be seen to be believed.

robert-temple-1 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.

octavalvehandle I remember being very impressed with "Simon" when I saw it on a cable. But that was more than 20 years ago. What I remember was that the humor was clever and offbeat. It wasn't goofy, just weird and fun. There is a similarity to Woody Allen's "Sleeper" and I would also place film like "The President's Analyst" in the this category. Whether it was funny or not, I don't recall. But it doesn't really matter. There are many comedies that are extremely entertaining but not necessarily laugh-out-loud funny.Of all the films that are not available on DVD, this is near the top of my want list (along with another Alan Arkin film, "The Seven Percent Solution". I'm curious to see what I'd think of it now. The 9 star vote I've given it is based on my memory. Hopefully, when I see it again, it will hold up.

imagecreations I checked the "spoiler" box but I can't believe that anyone reading these comments hasn't seen the movie, forgotten about it, and is now trying to remember it. It's too old, too obscure, and was never very popular even in its day, so I don't think anyone is just discovering this movie. Simon is extremely funny, extremely intelligent and sometimes very, very silly. It's also a warm, affectionate, and in the end, redeeming movie. Just to remind those who may have forgotten some of the best moments I give you: Simon, creating language, names his hand "mongillo", then discovering he has two, exclaims, "Zwei mongillo!" Or Fred Gwynne as General Korey getting all excited about the "Stupid making gas?, Makes the enemy stupid?" The people who will laugh the hardest at this movie are kids, who will laugh at the silliness and slapstick, and at least reasonably intelligent people who will get the multitude of cultural, political, scientific, and countless other references. Without meaning to sound sexist,(yes, women are just as capable of getting all the references) unfortunately, many women will dismiss this movie as unfunny.I think this is because of the abundance of slapstick. It's a Three Stooges thing.