The Muse *** (1999, Albert Brooks, Sharon Stone, Jeff Bridges, Andie MacDowell) – Classic Movie Review 6221

Albert Brooks and Sharon Stone sparkle in co-writer/ director Albert Brooks’s slight but amusing 1999 Hollywood comedy yarn about a struggling screenwriter (Brooks) whose crumbling career has just hit rock bottom when a wealthy producer friend (Jeff Bridges) advises him to consult a Muse (Stone).

She does provide Brooks with inspiration, and his wife (Andie MacDowell) with the stimulus to start a catering career. But she also decimates their bank balance with her whimsical demands and finally moves in.

Brooks’s satirical script on the real nature of Hollywood is gently good natured rather than acid or sharp. But, no matter, it entertains. Cybill Shepherd, Rob Reiner, James Cameron, Martin Scorsese and Jennifer Tilly appear as themselves.

Also in the cast are Monica Mikala, Jamie Alexis, Catherine MacNeal, Mark Feuerstein, Bradley Whitford, Skip O’Brien, Steven Wright and Stacey Travis.

It is written by Brooks and Monica Johnson, shot by Thomas E Ackerman, produced by Barry M Berg and Herb Nanas, scored by Elton John and designed by Dina Lipton.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6221

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