# Muse, The (1999)

### reviewed by
James Sanford

For 20 years, Albert Brooks' movies have been acclaimed as some of the funniest and smartest comedies around, although the general public has always been less appreciative of his efforts than the critics.

Instead of expressing bitterness about his lack of commercial appeal, however, Brooks has turned the situation into the premise for "The Muse," in which he plays a screenwriter named Steven Phillips who's so desperate for a hit, he's willing to spend every dime he has -- and probably several he doesn't -- for the services of Sarah (Sharon Stone), a vivacious blonde said to have the power to inspire marketable scripts. Although she charges no fees upfront, Sarah does require a good deal of pampering and placating: a $1700-a-night suite at The Four Seasons and trinkets from Tiffany's are barely enough to hold her interest.

Trekking through some of the same territory covered by "Bowfinger," "The Muse" lampoons Hollywood's tendency to accept everything and everyone at face value. No one bothers to question Sarah's credentials; they just look at her client list.

Similarly, the young studio executives Steven has to contend with may be brainless and amoral, but they look smart and stylish, which may mean more to their bosses than possessing any sense of tact or taste. One, who turns out to be Steven Spielberg's cousin Stan (a brilliant cameo by Steven Wright), helpfully tells Steven to make his movie "in color, people love color."

But though "The Muse" is a more consistent satire than "Bowfinger," it's not a prime example of Brooks' talent. The wild imagination he demonstrated in the hilarious "Defending Your Life" is tempered here, and the jokes, while generally clever, don't have the sting of his writing in "Lost in America" or "Mother." It's almost as if Brooks shared with Steven the desire to create something that wouldn't create ripples in the mainstream.

The movie's big accomplishment turns out to be giving Stone an opportunity to display her previously unseen lighter side, a challenge the actress eagerly accepts. She's serenely confident as Sarah, who would be insufferable were it not for her disarming smile and upbeat attitude. It's easily Stone's sharpest and most impressive work since her Oscar-nominated turn in "Casino."

As Steven's wife Laura -- who gets a little inspiration of her own from the muse -- Andie MacDowell is quietly charming, but the scene stealers here are the directors Brooks coaxed into participating onscreen. Martin Scorsese's hyperactive rant about his proposed remake of "Raging Bull" ("with a thin guy, I mean a real thin guy") is funny enough, but James Cameron's appearance is almost enough to make you forgive him for that "king of the world" remake at the 1998 Oscars. James Sanford

The review above was posted to the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due to ASCII to HTML conversion.

Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews