The Muse

1/4

Starring: Albert Brooks, Sharon Stone, Andie MacDowell, Jeff Bridges

Rated PG-13 for Brief Nudity

Oh, the ironies...

Stephen Phillips (Brooks) is a writer who has hit a rut.  "You've lost your edge," they tell him.  In a stroke of good fortune, Stephen's friend Jack (Bridges) gets him in touch with a woman that he claims is one of the Greek Muses.  Her name is Sarah (Stone) and she's willing to help him...for a price.

The irony of this movie is that it is completely devoid of ideas when it is about finding inspiration (or paying for it).  There are a number of humorous directions that Brooks, a funny comedian, could have taken it, but Brooks doesn't take any chances.  This is a one-joke movie, and it's not especially funny.  The Griswolds did escalating chaos better in "Christmas Vacation."

For a movie that claims to be about a writer using a muse to write better, it doesn't pay much attention to it.  Most of the movie is spent with Sarah helping Stephen's wife Laura (MacDowell) start a cookie making business.  Sadly, that's not interesting either.

Albert Brooks his his usual self, but he hasn't written himself any good material.  Sharon Stone is energetic, if bland, as the high-maintenance muse.   Only Andie MacDowell has some energy, mainly because Laura is the only one in the cast who comes within a mile of being a legitimate character.  Cameos from Rob Reiner, Martin Scorcese, James Cameron and a few others are included, but only Scorcese is funny.  Special mention has to go to Mark Feuerstein, who is awful.

What more can I say about this movie?  It sucks.  There are few things worse than bad comedies, and "The Muse" is one of them.  It's like a bad sitcom that never wants to end.  There's a joke about "Titanic," and I was thinking to myself...this feels soooo much longer than that.  And infinitely worse.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Desert Flower

2/4 Starring: Liya Kebede, Sally Hawkins, Timothy Spall, Juliet Stevenson Rated R for Some Violent Content, A Scene of Sexuality and Language The problem with "Desert Flower" is not that Waris Dirie's story isn't suited for the cinematic treatment or that the actress playing her isn't acceptable.  The problem is that director Sherry Hormann doesn't do a good job of telling it.  This is a poorly focused film that can't decide what it wants to be about or what it wants to say. As is the case with many a true story, the life of Waris Dirie is too amazing to be made up by a Hollywood screenwriter.  This woman fled an arranged marriage as a child, spent years as a servant to a Somali diplomat in England, survived on the streets, and was discovered by a fashion photographer while working as a janitor.  Then she became a supermodel and UN Ambassador in the fight against female genital mutilation. Waris experienced a lot in her life.  Telling it all in a...
Read more

The Road

3.5/4 Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Charlize Theron Rated R for Some Violence, Disturbing Images and Language "The Road" has to be the most downbeat, depressing and cynical movie I've ever seen.  That's not meant as a criticism, but a fact.  This is a tough movie to get through, but not a chore.  Those who venture in will find their time well spent, albeit not in a necessarily pleasant way.  Then again, if a movie is based off a novel by Cormac McCarthy, "pleasant" isn't a word one would hope to be used to describe it. The film takes place after the world has ended.  How it happened is not explained because it doesn't matter.  But any hope of the Earth recovering from what happened has long since gone.  A man (Mortensen) and his son (Smit-McPhee) are travelling together, trying to "get to the coast."  There are few people left, although considering what many are doing with the goal of survival, that's a good thing...
Read more

My Left Foot

 2/4 Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Brenda Fricker, Ray McAnally, Fiona Shaw, Alison Whelan Rated R (probably for Language and Brief Violence) "My Left Foot" feels like one of those movies designed to win Oscars and nothing else.  In fact, it did win two Oscars for the immortal Daniel Day-Lewis and Brenda Fricker, but apart from their strong work, there's not much else to remember about this movie.  It's well-acted, but all in all it's pretty dull. Christy Brown (Day-Lewis) is getting recognized for his work in order to raise money for the disabled.  Despite being a talented artist and writer, Christy is not the ideal candidate for the job.  He's an alcoholic jerk who makes no secret of his lust for women nor is he above using his disability to manipulate people into doing what he wants.  Interspersed with his attempts to seduce a woman tasked with looking after him while he awaits his entrance are vignettes from his childhood.  Most notably how his mothe...
Read more