The Muse

What can I say? This time, Brook's missed. I am a zealous Al Brook fan. But this sloppily written movie should replace the "Virgin Mary" picture and have elephant dung smeared on it. Then it would be at least interesting. On several occasions, Brooks failed to use obvious plots and instead, put nothing. His over-acting added to this potion of dog-doodoo. And while Sharon Stone, for once, did a fine job as the spoiled Muse, Andie McDowell did not back up the female supporting role. Her lines were bad, her acting was bad. She was just- well, bad. Nothing good. And I love her. But she stunk up the movie theater. And I am ready to say that she did not stink it up alone, the guy behind me smelled too. I am a disappointed movie goer when Al Brooks fails to give me pleasure. And this time, he failed.

Brooks is the West-Coast doppelganger of Woody Allen, despite the fact that he's about twenty years younger & takes on characters decidedly white-bread Middle American Gentile. All of Brooks' movies are about him entering a critical transition period of life (or death). Like Allen's films, his variations on this familiar theme range in quality. 'The Muse' is a solid effort. Most Brooks films have funny zingers; this one has a whole filmful plus a clever story to boot, and a big-budget cast. The more you know about Hollywood and the motion picture industry (I recommend 'The Big Picture' by Epstein), the more true-to-life you understand the film to be, and thus the funnier the jokes become. I'm not sure why it did poorly, and reading others' comments yields little insight. All I can say is that Brooks is never a fully sympathetic character--he is always at least partly to blame for his predicament--never quite the "aw-shucks" underdog. At least this time he and Johnson introduce other characters who are even more sympathetic to generate audience goodwill. Not to mention that the two leading ladies are both stunningly good-looking. Plus the whole Hollywood self-referencing is a lot of fun. Bottom line is, I believe that this is among the best of Albert Brooks' films. It has many winning qualities which permit it to transcend the Brooks formula. It shares a certain affinity with another wry comedy, "Being There"; both are stories about people being drawn in by the mysterious among us.

Writer/Director/Star Albert Brooks and co-writer Monica Johnson's somewhat jaundiced view ofachievement and success in Hollywood is the inspiration for this movie. While a bit gimmicky and aimless,it is still quite funny and satisfies in a way he's known for doing(Lost in America,Defending Your Life and Mother spring to mind for me personally). Writer Steven Miller has won what seems to be his umpteenth Humanitarian award for his work in the industry,and being a longtime veteran of penning scripts that get critical acclaim but receive little or no commercial reward,he finds himself at a crossroads for his career. In a moment of personal breakdown in front of his friend Jack(Jeff Bridges,very good in something just a little bit more than a cameo here) recommends that he use the services of a beautiful and spoiled woman named Sarah(Sharon Stone,very fine here),whose exact job is to be a Muse,or inspiration,for artists to do their most successful work. Reluctant at first,Steven takes the Muse in and,after running through hoops for her in ways that seem not worth the effort,his script inspiration takes a commercial(if not quality)turn for the seemingly better. Things complicate when Steven's wife Laura(Andie MacDowall,who rarely seems different in any role she does anymore)ferrets out Sarah,thinking he's husband is having an affair with her. He isn't,and the two become friends,and Sarah's artistic inspiration rubs off on Laura as well. A skewering of the Hollywood industry is served up in the first half of the movie,followed by the last half being somewhat of an actualization story. Uneven? Sure. But the material is kept light enough to please anyone's dry grown-up humor,particularly one who value's Brooks' style.

I went to the film with high hopes, being an Albert Brooks fan and truly enjoying his humour. I was sorely disappointed though in the production values and the performance of the terrible Sharon Stone. There were so many glaring continuity errors and technical glitches that what ever humour remained in the production was quickly lost. Here's hoping for a better effort from Brooks the next time. Jeff Bridges is totally wasted in the movie!!

I am not a great fan of Sharon Stone (or Albert Brooks either for that matter). But this movie is her best and this is the one for which she should have gotten an Oscar, instead of her supporting (at best) role in Casino. This movie shows a completely different side of Ms. Stone, as a comedienne, and generates a hearty welcome from the hard-core, cold, aloof, sometimes promiscuous characters she usually plays. THE MUSE is a truely great comedy and it is made so by Ms. Stone, not Albert Brooks. It is also a great thing to see a comedy not based on romance or some other trite concept for comedy. It is great satire on the bourgeois commnunity in Hollywood.

Run, don't walk...away from this movie. If you happen to waste your money and decide to see this film, you will be running out of the theater within the first hour. The plot is as sophisticated as the title is long. Andie MacDowell was at her absolute worst. If this is an indication of her future work, she needs to stick with the TV adds. Someone must have owed someone else a big favor, because this film should never have been produced.

Albert Brooks is funny. A good comedic actor and voice-over talent. Some of the funniest scenes involve Mr. Brooks. But what a total piece of doodoo is this. Why? 1. PRETENTIOUS. I hate movies that show people living perfect, rich lifestyles with syrupy families. How many shots of Albert driving a $75k black Mercedes to his mansion in BH do we need? 2. Shameless cameos by middle-aged bloated actors. Gee, aren't I cool? I'm making a movie about the movie business, wanna do a walk on? We'll nosh after wards. Don't schwitz it! 3. Sharon Stone. Is there a more selfish, untalented actress who forced her way on to the screen that this lady? Yeesh. She's stinks as an actress and her looks are the kind of scary, barren ice queen variety that reminds me of a parasite who sucks the life force out of stupid men in Porsche's. Hideous choice. 4. The story. Gee, do I care that a Hollywood screenwriter is having writer's block and can't crank out the same drivel and trash that is making America even dumber so he can support his completely vapid, boring and lazy trophy wife (nothing against Andie McDowell just talking about the story line kids)? Not to mention the weak 2nd story line of his wife becoming a cookie making sensation! Wow how novel. Another yenta wife of a rich Hollywood star making cookies! Writing a cookbook! Wow! How super! Never mind that it happens in second. Never mind that trying to sell a new chocolate chip cookie in a completely saturated market would be harder than achieving cold fusion in your garage. Anyhoo. 5. Albert Brooks is one arrogant guy. He loves to be the smartest guy in the room, doesn't he? He thinks he's Einstein. Yeah, I know. 6. Did I mention how completely selfish, arrogant, phony and unsympathetic the characters and the entire situation is? Just checking. If you want to see Albert Brooks at his best, see Defending Your Life, Lost in America, Broadcast News or Finding Nemo. But forget The Muse. Unless you want to waste over an hour watching obnoxiously insipid rich people cavort around LA whining about their little club of film making members. Ha ha ha. NOT.

Normally, I like insider type movies, and did enjoy some of the cameo appearances of movie directors. However, I found the Albert Brooks character too whiney and predictable. He jumps at the idea of a Muse and potential salvation way too quickly, as if he has read the script ahead of time. Sharon Stone played a spoiled brat, and did not provide any inspiration to a character 500 other actresses could have played the same way in 500 other movies with spoiled brats. Andie McDowell's character accepted the story of a Muse vs an affair way too quickly with too little proof. I know my wife wouldn't so easily accept another woman, and then let her sleep in my bed too! The dialog was boring, not inspired as some have said of Albert Brooks' abilities, the soundtrack was grating (did not fit the scenes well at all), and the casting less than ideal. Albert could have used a real MUSE for this story.

The irony of this film the is that the reaction of the producer in the first few scene, should have been the same as the real producer. What a load of self-indulgent drivel this was. I'm not going to go in detail as there isn't really much to comment on, no real jokes, poor acting, no direction, no story. The scene with the salad summed the whole thing up. Lets throw in a pie-in-the-face scene that'll get a laugh. I saw this film on a flight from Salt Lake to Boston and I don't recall seeing anyone even smile let alone laugh. Rightly flopped at the box office. 0/10

Albert Brooks should have let life imitate art and hired himself a muse before deciding to torture us with this crap. A great cast (including the usually much, much funnier Mr. Brooks)and a solid concept are wasted here. All of those directors (Reiner, Scorsese, Cameron) must have owed Brooks huge favors ... there is no other way that they would have agreed to cameos here. The reviewer who called on us to take a vomit bag was very right indeed.