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The Muse (1999)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:75
Fresh:40
Rotten:35
Average Rating:5.9/10
Consensus: Despite quirky and original writing, the subject matter feels too removed to produce laughs.
Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis: Albert Brooks is Steven Phillips, a veteran screenwriter of 17 films who is told he has lost his edge. A fellow writer with a string of successes under his belt (Jeff Bridges) refers Phillips to... Albert Brooks is Steven Phillips, a veteran screenwriter of 17 films who is told he has lost his edge. A fellow writer with a string of successes under his belt (Jeff Bridges) refers Phillips to Sarah (Sharon Stone), a professional muse (see Greek mythology). In exchange for the royal treatment and a showering of expensive gifts, she will grace writers with her presence, which seems to magically spark profitable ideas from the client's mind. Is her power real or is it all in her clients' heads? Why does Jack's wife develop a delicious and profitable cookie recipe in Sarah's company? Brooks uses his usual biting wit and thoroughly neurotic sensibility to lampoon the Hollywood lifestyle. As in THE PLAYER, many personalities appear as themselves to take a shot--most especially a hilariously jacked-up Martin Scorsese and a desperate James Cameron. Sharon Stone is unexpectedly funny as the capricious, avaricious muse who turns Phillips's life upside down. Brooks is his usual dry, hilarious self. [More]
Starring: Albert Brooks, Sharon Stone, Andie MacDowell, Jeff Bridges
Starring: Albert Brooks, Sharon Stone, Andie MacDowell, Jeff Bridges
Director: Albert Brooks
Director: Albert Brooks
Screenwriter: Albert Brooks, Monica Johnson
Producer: Herb Nanas
Reviews for The Muse
It's good for some sterling one-liners and a generous handful of sparkling scenes, but after a strong, peppery start, the movie collapses into bland mush for want of anything interesting to say.
Though consistently fun in an Albert Brooks kind of way, this film drags its feet with the business of building to a climax.
Ostensibly a comedy about inspiration and creativity, The Muse is a clunker that's actually painfully lacking in both qualities.
In The Muse, Brooks makes a mistake he's never made before: he starts with a situation comedy, then never moves beyond the situation.
A writer and comic who's the best when he's the nastiest, Brooks creates for himself a character that's way too accommodating and sweet.
There are bits in this movie that are so bright, so amusing and so truly, madly, deeply tied to a life most of us will never know, that you can’t help watching the film with fascination.
There are lots of punchy lines, but the one-joke movie doesn't have all that much to say.
Typically fresh and idiosyncratic in the writing but often flat directorially.
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