Rotten Tomatoes gave it a approval rating based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's consensus reads: "The satire in S1m0ne lacks bite, and the plot isn't believable enough to feel relevant." Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated an average score of 49, based on 38 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Roger Ebert was critical of Niccol wasting his premise by giving it a broad appeal with "sitcom simplicity" and his cast a narrow direction for their characters, saying: "He wants to edge it in the direction of a Hollywood comedy, but the satire is not sharp enough and the characters, including the ex-wife, are too routine." The Guardians Peter Bradshaw wrote that "It's reasonable material, but there are no real plot twists or unexpected implications; it all just rolls out easily in a Hollywood that director Niccol makes appear so unreal as to be an easy target". Marc Savlov of The Austin Chronicle said, "What really irked me about Simone was that it stank of the very thing it appeared to be mocking: it's a big-budget, commercial film taking potshots at big-budget, commercial filmmaking (as well as overripe, over-earnest indies), and although it strives constantly for a sense of knowing, winking irony, the only thing ironic about it is how much it resembles its supposed target." Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times said, "The writer-director Mr. Niccol is satirizing the kinds of dazzling empties he himself has made. [Mr. Niccol is] fascinated with surfaces—the films he's been involved with (he wrote The Truman Show and wrote and directed Gattaca) are a mix of populism and deconstruction. His newest effort, Simone, goes beyond postmodern to post-entertainment—it's tepid and vapid." See also M3GAN (2022 film featuring an artificial intelligence smart toy designed to look like a little girl, becoming the "friend" of its child companion) Black Mirror (television series featuring celebrities made from simulated digital bodies, worlds and lifestyles similar to "Simone") Small Wonder (comedy sitcom where an ordinary family pretends that an invented robot made to mimic a little girl is their real child) Gattaca The Truman Show VTuber (media phenomenon centering on virtual avatar entertainment) Shudu Gram, a computer generated social media personality and model, considered the world's first digital supermodel. References External links 2002 films 2000s American films 2000s English-language films 2000s satirical films