Rating: 
Summary: annoying.
Review: I have enjoyed past films of brooks' but found this movie to be boring, unfunny, and sharon stone to be extremely annoying! this movie is a sham i tell you! i laughed at some of brooks' lines, but everytime stone was onscreen i wanted to leave the room! she wasn't a bad actor, but her character was just so annoying and self serving. this movie just annoyed me ...i don't know why i bothered finishing watching it! bad movie.
Rating:
Summary: Brooks Bombs
Review: I love Albert Brooks, the west coast neurotic, whose wit and witlessness in his films draw comparisons to one of my favorite star/writer/directors: Woody Allen. I love many of Albert Brooks films. Modern Romance is a wonderful film, one of his best. Defending Your Life a neat little diversion, funny, inventive. That is why the news I have to report on his latest offering, THE MUSE, is hard to spit up. It is a bomb. It is unfunny. It made me writhe about out of control for over 90 minutes. I almost walked out of the room, something I have never done in the middle of a film. I hated the thing. I did not laugh one single, solitary time. This is why I am being particularly harsh on the film. It is a movie by someone I think has a gift at filmaking, yet he makes a film about filmaking that is so absurd and lifeless it almost makes you think he never made one in his life. There is a good movie swimming deep deep deep within this wretched little piece. The film is called THE PLAYER. Buy that instead. As for Mr Brooks, one can only think that maybe he has lost his edge, much like that of the character he portrays in THE MUSE. Or maybe he is lost in Hollywood, much like he was LOST IN AMERICA so long, and so many laughs, before.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Worst!
Review: I loved Albert Brooks movie "Lost in America" but this is one of the absolute worst movies I have ever seen. Albert Brooks acting and story line in all his movies are exactly the same; guy loses jobs, has a jerk for his boss, this creates problems with personal and family life, finally everything is solved somewhat ambiguously. Albert must be a really nice guy and have a lot of friends in the business to get this movie out!
Rating: 
Summary: ALBERT BROOKS SCORES AGAIN!
Review: I originally didn't think this movie looked like it would be any good, then I rented it. It is absolutely HYSTERICAL. I loved Brooks' brilliant witty, observant, self-depricating dialogue. His scripts must be a joy to read through. I thought Sharon Stone would ruin the movie but I actually found her humorous and sweet. The DVD has little to offer other than a VERY FUNNY trailer with Brooks narrating. Overall, this can go next to "Mother", "Defending Your Life" and "Modern Romance" in the Albert Brooks Classics section.
Rating:
Summary: Horrid. Truly horrid.
Review: I really find words to describe it.. What looked like a very cool concept floundered hopelessly in execution. It seems the screenwriter in reality was suffering from the same thing as the screenwriter in the movie - a major shortage of inspiration. And it seems that every actor got the script about five minutes before the film was shot. Charicters deliver truly unbeleiavable lines, with no emotion, over and over - The only good thing about this movie is that it's over quickly. This movie isn't even the type of bad movie that one can enjoy watching with friends and making fun of..Overall, it's just sad.
Rating:
Summary: Albert Brooks must be inspired by his *own* muse!
Review: I will admit my bias right up front: If I had to make a list of reasons I'm glad I'm alive, comedian-writer-director Albert Brooks would surely be in my top ten. But though Brooks has been directing his own movie comedies for 20 years, he remains a cult comedian whose humor often seems a little too inside. And Brooks's THE MUSE is unlikely to change his track record. But if you're burned out by in-your-face comedies, I strongly encourage you to see this. It's gratifyingly intelligent and superbly hilarious to boot. Brooks plays Steven Phillips, a Hollywood screenwriter who, as the movie opens, is being presented with a humanitarian award. (When one of his daughters asks what a humanitarian is, he replies, "It's a man who never won an Oscar.") The award is the last good thing to happen to Steven for a while. Trying to peddle his latest script, he is told by many disparate parties that he has "lost his edge." The movie's first half-hour milks huge laughs from Steven's desperate attempts at script-hustling, as he moves further and further down the Hollywood food chain. Then Steven happens upon Jack Warrick (Jeff Bridges), an old Hollywood friend whose career is on a dramatic upswing. Jack reluctantly shares his secret with Steven. He has a muse--not an imagined source of inspiration, but a real live goddess who gives him the help he needs. Jack arranges a meeting between Sarah the muse (played to the hilt by Sharon Stone) and Steven. THE MUSE, like the best modern-day comedies, is almost anti-high concept. Trying to explain its appeal usually bungles it for anyone who isn't in on the laugh. Brooks is simply one of the great comedians--for my money, right up there with Chaplin and all the other comedy icons you just have to trust will give you a good time. He's also a subtle, underrated director who gets huge laughs from the simplest camera set-ups. (Witness Steven's trek through a movie lot as he attempts to meet Steven Spielberg.) Brooks must have had his own muse to get such an inspired performance from Sharon Stone, whose appeal has been lost on me until now. She usually comes off as self-obsessed. But here, that can only be an advantage. Stone's best moments are Sarah's slack-jawed reactions to Steven's cost-cutting attempts to get her services for less. What's money to a muse like her, anyway? Even the ending, which is usually the weakest part of Brooks's movies, manages to wrap things up beautifully here. If Brooks really has a muse, I hope he'll lend her out to every comedy maker in Hollywood, fast. One final point in the movie's favor: Elton John's lush score, one of the best of 1999. THE MUSE is rated PG-13 for adult language and situations, and brief nudity.
Rating: 
Summary: Neat little film with insightful Hollywood jabs
Review: I wish I could give this film 3 1/2 stars. It's not the greatest film ever made, but the fun little jabs at Hollywood's psychological underbelly are darn cute. Having once worked at Paramount, I recognized some of the types if not the actual characters (although I swear that Josh's "office" was not in the Lucille Ball building but probably in Paramount's main building). Sarah Little (the "Muse," played by Stone) might represent anyone in a position of confidential, advisory power in the "Hollywood" community. Her advantage-taking, meddling and boundary-crossings could characterize an agent, psychologist or "psychic" whose client/patient list overlaps incestuously -- someone who gains some personal psychological ephemera by "serving the stars" who are, of course, eternally grateful. In real life, the "Muse" would end up a defendant in a malpractice suit. My goodness, we even find her taking over the marital bed, eventually using the couple's "best sheets" to fairy-tale her escape! The film is worth watching just to see Sharon Stone in Emanuel Ungaro, and Andie MacDowell is stunning in a wonderful black dress in one of the above mentioned "marital bed" scenes. Did Ungaro also do Andie's dress? Now I've got to go make some cookies . . .
Rating:
Summary: A - Muse - Ing
Review: I'm just gonna start right off the bat by saying that Albert Brooks is a comedic genius. There is no arguing that. The man always delivers. His best effort was the recent "Mother". So, does this film deliver in the brilliant Albert Brooks way?. Well,
no. It really doesn't. Is it still a pleasant and charming and humorous film?. Yes. It's just not up to Brooks' standards. In the movie, Brooks stars as Steven, a Hollywood screenwriter who can't seem to get a break, even after winning a prestigious film award. He has a nice home and a beautiful wife(played by Andie MacDowell), and some kids, but his career is floundering. It seems as if the studios aren't helping him much either. Then, his rich best friend(played by Jeff Bridges), lets Steven in on a little secret. He's been using a muse. Someone who inspires creativity in someone. At first, he's unwilling to share his muse with Steven, then gives in when he sees how desperate his buddy is. Steven meets Sarah(Sharon Stone), and it's not all great as he thought it would be. Sarah helps and gives, but expects things in return. Not just things, but nice things. She even moves in with the family!. I won't go into the ending and say what happens, but it is kind of a downer really. I wished it had ended some other way. The movie is light and airy and easily forgettable after a while, but it is smooth going down. Stone has never been more appealing here, even if she does get a little bossy here and there. Brooks is his usual reliable self. The film also has cameos by James Cameron, Martin Scorsesse, Wolfgang Puck, Rob Reiner, and Jennifer Tilly. The scene where Brooks is talking with a foreign man in a restaraunt and he doesn't understand what he is saying is priceless. I laughed hard at that one. The Muse isn't classic Brooks, but it's pleasant enough while we wait for something better.
Rating:
Summary: A - Muse - Ing
Review: I'm just gonna start right off the bat by saying that Albert Brooks is a comedic genius. There is no arguing that. The man always delivers. His best effort was the recent "Mother". So, does this film deliver in the brilliant Albert Brooks way?. Well,
no. It really doesn't. Is it still a pleasant and charming and humorous film?. Yes. It's just not up to Brooks' standards. In the movie, Brooks stars as Steven, a Hollywood screenwriter who can't seem to get a break, even after winning a prestigious film award. He has a nice home and a beautiful wife(played by Andie MacDowell), and some kids, but his career is floundering. It seems as if the studios aren't helping him much either. Then, his rich best friend(played by Jeff Bridges), lets Steven in on a little secret. He's been using a muse. Someone who inspires creativity in someone. At first, he's unwilling to share his muse with Steven, then gives in when he sees how desperate his buddy is. Steven meets Sarah(Sharon Stone), and it's not all great as he thought it would be. Sarah helps and gives, but expects things in return. Not just things, but nice things. She even moves in with the family!. I won't go into the ending and say what happens, but it is kind of a downer really. I wished it had ended some other way. The movie is light and airy and easily forgettable after a while, but it is smooth going down. Stone has never been more appealing here, even if she does get a little bossy here and there. Brooks is his usual reliable self. The film also has cameos by James Cameron, Martin Scorsesse, Wolfgang Puck, Rob Reiner, and Jennifer Tilly. The scene where Brooks is talking with a foreign man in a restaraunt and he doesn't understand what he is saying is priceless. I laughed hard at that one. The Muse isn't classic Brooks, but it's pleasant enough while we wait for something better.
Rating: 
Summary: Good entertainment at 17.99 - A+Muse-ing
Review: I've read all the 12 critics before I started writing. I found this movie very entertaining. I watched it alone in my living room on a Saturday night, laughing through out the movie. It is funny, well written, well acted and directed movie. The music is excellent, especially the Muse by Elton John during the end credits. The DVD has a nice menu, and a few extras such as the featurette. For me this movie was good entertainment at 17.99. Vey harsh critics from other viewers, but I hope Mr. Brooks got financially rewarded for his work.
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