The Muse

A veteran Hollywood screenwriter gets his writing contract terminated when everyone in the industry deems him to have “lost his edge”. After querying his successful producer friend for help, he suddenly finds himself hooked up with a modern-day “muse”, who is ready to stir up his creativity…but at a price! You see, the “muse” likes to inspire at her own pace, loves extravagance and has a “thing” for expensive gifts.

A very original fantasy tale strung along with plenty of funny lines, a nice pace, a couple of twists and turns, a surprising ending, cameos galore, Hollywood in-jokes, and a spectacular performance from Sharon Stone as “the muse”. I’ve given Sharon a hard time over the past few years, with her trying to get all serious and shit, but she is perfect in this role, funny as heck, cute as ever, and man-o-man…what a great ass! 🙂 Albert Brooks is someone whose humor is either appreciated by one or not, much like Woody Allen, and if you haven’t liked any of his previous films, you probably won’t like this one either. Fortunately for myself, I love Woody Allen, and respect Brooks’ unique brand of humor, despite his tepid acting range leaving much to be desired. This film had me laughing out loud for the first thirty minutes or so, but did take a little dip in the second half, with little spurts of humor buoying me afloat.

Having said that, the plot itself always kept me interested, while Sharon Stone and her engaging performance, locked me in for good! Don’t get me wrong, I also liked Albert Brooks’ character, and he certainly hogged all the best one-liners to himself, but Stone stole the show for me. MacDowell, on the other hand, does little but float around in this one, adding very little to the mix, and Jeff Bridges, well, he acts with his tan, and does a mighty fine job at it, if I say so myself! Scorsese’s walk-on and a couple of other big scenes have giant laughs, but on the whole, the film is cute, and fluffy, and fun, and well, entertaining. Surely my own bias as a screenwriter might be shining through a little here (Just so you know where I’m coming from :), but Mrs. JoBlo has no interest in the Woods of Holly, and she was also spurting out laughter throughout. Take it as you will, but do appreciate the fact that there are plenty of Hollywood jabs in here, humor which treks heavily through the sardonic, and Sharon Stone is goddamn delicious! Any questions…? And no…I haven’t sold any of my scripts either. Anyone know of any cheap muses running around?? Anyone? Bueller?

(c) 2021 Berge Garabedian