***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** Anyone settling in to watch "The Muse" should first make sure he or she has had a good night's sleep. If one starts to watch this movie wanting for sleep, one will quickly find same.
The main premise of "The Muse" is that a slumping Hollywood screenwriter (Albert Brooks, who also directed and co-wrote the screenplay, as per usual for him) turns to a mysterious woman -- a "muse" (Sharon Stone) -- to help salvage his latest screenplay, not to mention his entire Hollywood career. The idea is that she is going to, somehow, thru some kind of magical and mystical conjuring, turn defeat for the poor sap into victory thru vegetables. With the help of a Waldorf Salad. Or something! Who knows?
The biggest problem with "The Muse" is its ridiculous plot. No, not the fact that he would turn to a "muse" for help. That's the most believable part of the plot. What is truly unbelevable are the absurd extremes our friendly schmuck will go to in order to get and keep her on his side, so she will help him. Such as buying her a present from Tiffany, before he's even met her, thereby paying to her the initial homage. Such as putting her up in a deluxe $1,700.-a-night suite in the Four Seasons Hotel. Such as agreeing to stock her suite's refrigerator with food -- not from a plain old supermarket, mind you, but from a health food store. Such as agreeing to take her clothes to the cleaners for her (For $1,700. a night in a high-end hotel, wouldn't they have a concierge or somebody to take care of stuff like that?). Such as agreeing to be at her beck and call 24 hours a day -- for ANYTHING! And on and on.
Added to all this is the idiot delight's wife (Andie MacDowell). After some initial reservations about her husband's mysterious involvement with a beautiful woman, she eventually decides all these shenanigans between her husband and the lady conjurer are just fine with her. ANYTHING that will help her husband's career. In fact, she, too, avails herself of the services of the female from another mythology to open her own cookie store. Honestly!
As hokey and silly as all these goings-on are, one might possibly -- POSSIBLY! -- buy it all (assuming it was on sale for half off at K-Mart!) if Brooks' character was in love with the "muse." We all know that people in love do some awfully nutty things for their beloved(s). But he's not even in love with her! He loves his wife! What an outdated and goofy concept for a movie!
In the past, I was a big fan of Albert Brooks' films (generally speaking, of course). Just as I once was of Woody Allen's. Just as I once was of Mel Brooks'. Now Mel is way too old to do much of anything, Woody has become a caricature of a caricature of himself, and as for Albert, if "The Muse" can be used as any kind of guidepost, he seems to either be out of fresh ideas or, if he does come up with one, he can't figure out how to bring it to an entertaining fruition.
Ironically, the screenplay in the plot of "The Muse" might very well have been the real-life screenplay for this movie. Just as Brooks' character had to call on Stone's character in the movie to save his screenplay, it's too bad Brooks had no real-life "muse" to call on to save his script for this movie.
The main premise of "The Muse" is that a slumping Hollywood screenwriter (Albert Brooks, who also directed and co-wrote the screenplay, as per usual for him) turns to a mysterious woman -- a "muse" (Sharon Stone) -- to help salvage his latest screenplay, not to mention his entire Hollywood career. The idea is that she is going to, somehow, thru some kind of magical and mystical conjuring, turn defeat for the poor sap into victory thru vegetables. With the help of a Waldorf Salad. Or something! Who knows?
The biggest problem with "The Muse" is its ridiculous plot. No, not the fact that he would turn to a "muse" for help. That's the most believable part of the plot. What is truly unbelevable are the absurd extremes our friendly schmuck will go to in order to get and keep her on his side, so she will help him. Such as buying her a present from Tiffany, before he's even met her, thereby paying to her the initial homage. Such as putting her up in a deluxe $1,700.-a-night suite in the Four Seasons Hotel. Such as agreeing to stock her suite's refrigerator with food -- not from a plain old supermarket, mind you, but from a health food store. Such as agreeing to take her clothes to the cleaners for her (For $1,700. a night in a high-end hotel, wouldn't they have a concierge or somebody to take care of stuff like that?). Such as agreeing to be at her beck and call 24 hours a day -- for ANYTHING! And on and on.
Added to all this is the idiot delight's wife (Andie MacDowell). After some initial reservations about her husband's mysterious involvement with a beautiful woman, she eventually decides all these shenanigans between her husband and the lady conjurer are just fine with her. ANYTHING that will help her husband's career. In fact, she, too, avails herself of the services of the female from another mythology to open her own cookie store. Honestly!
As hokey and silly as all these goings-on are, one might possibly -- POSSIBLY! -- buy it all (assuming it was on sale for half off at K-Mart!) if Brooks' character was in love with the "muse." We all know that people in love do some awfully nutty things for their beloved(s). But he's not even in love with her! He loves his wife! What an outdated and goofy concept for a movie!
In the past, I was a big fan of Albert Brooks' films (generally speaking, of course). Just as I once was of Woody Allen's. Just as I once was of Mel Brooks'. Now Mel is way too old to do much of anything, Woody has become a caricature of a caricature of himself, and as for Albert, if "The Muse" can be used as any kind of guidepost, he seems to either be out of fresh ideas or, if he does come up with one, he can't figure out how to bring it to an entertaining fruition.
Ironically, the screenplay in the plot of "The Muse" might very well have been the real-life screenplay for this movie. Just as Brooks' character had to call on Stone's character in the movie to save his screenplay, it's too bad Brooks had no real-life "muse" to call on to save his script for this movie.