Year of Release: 1999
Director: Albert Brooks
Starring: Albert Brooks, Sharon Stone, Andie MacDowell, Jeff Bridges, Mark Feuerstein, Bradley Whitford
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 4
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Synopsis and Review
Following the well received "Mother", actor/writer/director Albert Brooks returned with another stellar-filled cast for his follow up, "The Muse". The film's narrative focuses on Steven Phillips, a writer/screenwriter, whom we first encounter winning a lifetime achievement award. He soon realizes that most people in the industry consider his career past its prime, and for all intended purposes dead. The latest script he was working on, an action picture, is brushed aside. Steven's wife, Laura, suggests he seeks out the help/advice from his friend Jack, who is a very successful screenwriter and has even won an Oscar. Jack lets him know that what has kept his sparkle and good ideas going is the help of a muse, a woman by the name of Sarah. He forewarns Steven that Sarah is very picky about who she chooses to take as a client. She also likes to receive gifts. Steven meets Sarah, and she eventually decides to take him on as a client. However, she sets a series of demands, that are met with surprise for both Steven and eventually Laura. Steven starts noticing that a series of Hollywood heavyweights reach out to Sarah for ideas/inspiration, and he eventually gets an idea that he starts converting to a script. However, the demands from Sarah keep growing, and eventually she turns her attention to Laura, inspiring her to start a business of her own. Steven's anxiety and lack of what he considers palpable results, starts creating some friction with Sarah.
"The Muse" has the makings of a great satire on Hollywood, the creative process, the ageism of being in an industry that caters to mostly young people, the shallowness of overhype, and the list goes on. However and sadly for this film and for all the talent involved, this turns out to be quite a limp story with a third act that doesn't go anywhere. Albert Brooks has always utilized the same persona across all feature films he's in, including films that he has not directed himself, such as his character in Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver" and James L. Brooks' "Broadcast News". That persona is always characterized by being overly verbose, insecure, always challenged in his romantic relationships with women who are clearly out of his league, and eventually someone who always sabotages himself, for not believing in his own abilities. He is essentially a less prolific, less funny, and possibly less intellectual version of Woody Allen. Which is to say, the persona he always embodies is a schtick that has a limited shelf life. "The Muse" however could have gone in a very different direction, since it had the opportunity to shift the focus to the Muse herself, played with enough sharpness by Sharon Stone. Sadly the film never strays too far away from Mr. Brooks' central character, and underplays and underwrites the supporting characters, including Sarah, Laura, and even the best friend Jack. So much could have been done with those characters, and these talented performers, but the film gives them so very little to do. The entire film feels like it's at the constant precipice of something terribly funny, biting, or even daring happening, but for its entire duration it remains limp and tepid, precisely like the scripts Steven is accused of writing. The best gag of the entire film takes place early on when Steven shows up for a meeting with the other Steven (as in Spielberg). They make him walk for a ton of miles, only for him to be received by Mr. Spielberg's cousin, who hasn't even seen his films. This type of acidity and irreverence, could have been applied to the rest of the film, but sadly it never makes a mark again. The talented cast is wasted, and the production team is solid without being remarkable. It's a waste of talent and a quickly forgotten endeavor.
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