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.
Review of Simon
