Simon (1980)

(On Cable TV, February 2022) In Simon, we’ve got a dark comedy imagining what would happen if a human was brainwashed into believing that he’s an alien with a message for humanity. The weird humour of the film is clearly explained in its terrific few minutes, during which it’s explained that just about everything of significance in 1960s–1970s America happened at the whim of a handful of incredibly smart scientists growing increasingly bored and unethical in their experiments. That’s an excellent premise and in fact, it’s almost too good for Simon’s own good: Once past the great first ten minutes, the film sinks back into a plot that’s nowhere near as interesting as the hilariously demented scientists running large-scale social experiments on an unsuspecting population. In comparison, the story of the brainwashed protagonist taking on the small annoyances of life because he’s convinced that he’s from a superior civilization almost falls flat. The ugly shooting style, very close to found-footage documentary, certainly doesn’t help: using the depressing palette of 1970s cinema does Simon no favours and actually runs against the film’s more uplifting intentions. An interesting cast (Alan Arkin, Wallace Shawn, Madeline Kahn) can’t do much. As a consequence of starting with a premise better than its plot, Simon also suffers from constant lulls and weak moments: there isn’t enough plot to sustain the film, nor enough wit or imagination to get it purring throughout. It ends almost because it has to, without much of a climax. Frankly, rewind Simon to the end of its opening minutes and remake the rest—it’s bound to be a more interesting film than what follows.