Main Cast: Alan Arkin, Austin Pendleton, Judy Graubart, William Finley, Jayant
Release Year: 1980
Country: US
Run Time: 97 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
In this far-out comedy that slams it to academia, television, and the military, Simon (Alan Arkin) is a puffed-up professor who is boondoggled by a group of geniuses in a think tank. Becker (Austin Pendleton) leads the wacked-out thinkers as they invent off-the-wall games to keep themselves amused instead of solving global problems in ecology or whatever. They manage to convince Simon he is really a space alien, but then Simon gets away from them and takes refuge in a strange commune headed up by a former television executive (Adolph Green) whose bible is TV Guide. Simon's life does not get any easier since he is being hunted by the army with orders to shoot on sight. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
Review
After co-writing Sleeper, Annie Hall, and Manhattan with Woody Allen, Marshall Brickman struck out on his own -- as both writer and director -- with the uneven but often hilarious Simon. A peculiar comedy with a style all its own, it features moments of strange comedic genius, such as Alan Arkin's re-enactment of the evolution of man in the space of five minutes, as well as the bizarre but terribly funny sight of Austin Pendleton getting heavily "involved" with a computer. The dialogue, like all of the film, has its ups and downs, but features a number of funny lines that echo Brickman's earlier work; for example, during a debate about the existence of God, a rabbi states, "There is clear proof there is a God -- and He doesn't know what he's doing." Brickman's timing is generally good, but the pacing of the film overall suffers, possibly because the film doesn't really have a plot and just bounces from situation to situation; it also doesn't really have a focus, taking on any number of satirical targets but not following through completely on any of them. Arkin's performance suffers somewhat because of these flaws, but on the whole he's delightful and fully committed to the material. Pendleton creates another of his strangely appealing characters, and Madeline Kahn and Judy Graubart also turn in strong support. Brickman would follow this with the more conventional Lovesick. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Wallace Shawn - Van Dongen; Max Wright - Hundertwasser; Fred Gwynne - Korey; Madeline Kahn - Cynthia; Adolph Green - Commune Leader; Yusef Bulos - TV philosopher; Dick Cavett - Himself; Al Cerullo - Helicopter pilot; James Dukas - Narration; Pierre Epstein - Military aide at map; Sol Frieder - TV rabbi; William Griffis - TV senator; Lisa Maurer - Commune Member; Jerry Mayer - TV scientist; Ricky Murray - Commune Member; Remak Ramsay - TV newscaster; Ann Risley - Pam; Rex Robbins - Army Doctor; Hansford Rowe - TV priest; Stephanie Segal - Commune Member; Keith Szarabajka - Josh; David Warrilow - Blades; David Susskind - Himself; Hetty Galen - Mother; Roy Cooper - General's aide; David Gideon - Security guard; Ed Karvoski - Commune Member; Tom Kubiak - Roach reaction patient
Credit
Santo Loquasto - Costume Designer, Michael Rauch - First Assistant Director, Marshall Brickman - Director, Nina Feinberg - Editor, Louis A. Stroller - Executive Producer, Stanley Silverman - Composer (Music Score), Stuart Wurtzel - Production Designer, Adam Holender - Cinematographer, Martin Bregman - Producer, Louis A. Stroller - Producer, John Godfrey - Set Designer, Edward Drohan - Special Effects, Thomas Baum - Screenwriter, Marshall Brickman - Screenwriter
The Institute for Advanced Concepts, a group of scientists with an unlimited budget and a propensity for elaborate pranks, brainwash a scientist who was abandoned at birth (played by Alan Arkin) to convince him that he is of extraterrestrial origin. He then escapes and attempts to reform American culture by overriding TV signals with a high power TV transmitter, becoming a national celebrity in the process.
