The Muse

Previous Jeff Daniels

Next Jeff Daniels

Buy This Item The Muse by Polygram USA Video  Available from Amazon  $19.95  on 11-16-2008     Comic writer-director Albert Brooks (<I>Lost in America</I>, <I>Defending Your Life</I>, <I>Mother</I>) specializes in difficult characters. Not characters who are neurotic in a fumbling but endearing Woody Allen kind of way; Brooks creates characters who would be a pain in the ass to know and are sometimes kind of excruciating to even watch--which is not to say that they're not also extremely funny. However, <I>The Muse</I> manages to soften the edges of his persona while sustaining the humor. Steven (Brooks), a screenwriter, can't get anyone interested in his scripts. An extremely successful friend recommends that he talk to Sarah (Sharon Stone), who is--according the friend--a muse, one of the daughters of the Greek god Zeus who inspire creativity. The only problem is that Sarah not only gives, she takes: She demands gifts of diamond necklaces, expensive hotel rooms, late-night trips to expensive restaurants, and virtual servitude from whomever she's taken under her wing. This initially arouses suspicion in Steven's wife, Laura (Andie MacDowell), but soon Laura is asking for her own inspiration and it's Steven who starts to get jealous. Stone runs wild with her capricious character and an abundance of tart cameos (from Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, Rob Reiner, Jennifer Tilly, Cybill Shepherd, and Wolfgang Puck) add juice to the proceedings. <I>--Bret Fetzer</I> Reader Reviews The first half-hour is fine. Brooks is always at his best when his character is downtrodden or neurotic, and it's easy to sympathize with the screenwriter he plays here--one who's told repeatedly that he's "lost his edge." But Brooks lets go of his character's misery too quickly ... and the movie never picks up steam from there. The rest of this story--his writer seeks inspiration from a high-maintenance muse played by Sharon Stone--fails to be in any way funny or revealing. It's simply dull, and we sit there waiting for director Brooks to recognize it, too, and turn this dog around. The problem's pretty basic: Brooks's real-world acts Two and Three have no pop. The summer-blockbuster idea the muse inspires needs to be funny. But it isn't. It sounds dreadful, and increasingly, Brooks's character's problems become Brooks's real-life issues: how to put sizzle into an dry, workmanlike script perked up only by a spirited Stone. (Cameos from James Cameron and Martin Scorcese don't really help; they just highlight the barrenness of the terrain around them.) Indeed, after that first half-hour, very little works here ... until the ending, which exhibits the flash of inspiration missing from the picture as a whole.

The Muse Available from Amazon Price: $19.95 Updated on 11-16-2008.

SPONSORED LINKS