Most box-office analysts are predicting that XXX will become the first film of the summer to hold the No. 1 spot for three consecutive weeks. The primary new competition comes from two relatively low-budget films, one starring Al Pacino; the other, Matthew Perry. The Pacino movie -- about a computer programmer who creates a "virtual" actress, the "Simone" of the title, and passes her off as real -- is receiving mixed reviews. "It's fitfully funny but never really takes off," Robert Ebert writes in the Chicago Sun-Times. Jonathan Foreman's reaction in the New York Post is similar: "Simone staggers between flaccid satire and what is supposed to be madcap farce," he says. So is Elvis Mitchell's in the New York Times, who writes that the movie is "like the punch line to a joke that's been going around for years. It has been told better, and been funnier, elsewhere." On the other hand, Stephen Rea in the Philadelphia Inquirer observes that "Simone, for all its flaws, offers an enjoyable look at the machinations of moviedom and fame, and a look into a future where what is real and what isn't becomes scarily blurred." Claudia Puig in USA Today reaches an almost identical conclusion: "There are some very funny moments in Simone," she remarks. "So many movies lampoon Hollywood and mine little real humor. Simone is a worthy, if flawed, piece of entertainment." Eleanor Ringel Gillespie in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution also finds a lot to like and dislike about the movie, but concludes: "Simone is a smart and funny, albeit sometimes superficial, cautionary tale of a technology in search of an artist."