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A Look At Albert Brooks' THE MUSE!!!
I have heard next to nothing on this film till now, and it sounds.... hmmmmm well, you tell me.
Hey Harry.... A little birdy told me you might be interested in hearing
about my escapades this last Saturday night... so here we go...
It all started Friday night when the boyfriend and I trekked out to
Century City to see A Simple Plan. A certain evil genius had invited me
to go see The Faculty and I would have been up for that... only it fell
through... but that's a whole different story. Boyfriend and I decide
to go early, seeing as A Simple Plan wasn't city wide yet. We get in
line and one of those friendly-pesky test screening hybrid people comes
up to us... "Wanna see a screening?" "What is it?" we ask. (Boyfriend
is still scared it will be that Beowulf disaster with Chris Lambert...
or whatever the smack it was.) "Well, it's the new Albert Brooks movie,
starring Mr. Brooks, Sharon Stone, Andie MacDowell and Jeff Bridges...
at the Warner Bros lot in Burbank." Oh, my little droogies, even if I
HADN'T been interested, boyfriend heard "Warner Bros lot" and all was
history. Cute little pecker didn't grow up here in L.A. Lots are
supremely cool to him. And okay, it was kinda neat for me too.
So, Saturday night... stayed up too late Friday night... didn't really
feel like driving to Burbank... off we go anyway. Get WAAAAY lost (I
can get lost in a casino) which wasn't improving my mood. We get there
a little over an hour early and the line has already begun to assemble.
We move into it and amongst the morons milling about going, "Who's Andie
MacDowell?", there was actually one guy who had been to a lot of
screenings and could hold an intelligent conversation about film. He'd
seen Boogie Nights in a screening and was telling us about cut scenes.
Cool.
Alright, so... finally, we're admitted into Screening Room 12. Rather
smallish, rather oldish. Still cool. The movie screening dude (do they
pay these guys to be as oafish as possible?) comes out to introduce the
film. Says what we'll be watching is nearly a completed print, it
simply doesn't have ending credits. And he doesn't ask us to stay
seated afterwards or anything. A screening with no survey afterwards.
Tres nifty.
Movie, which is called "The Muse" by the way, starts. Since there was
no description of the film on the screening pass, we were going in
blind. I've found that sometimes, that's the best way to see a film.
This was one of those times. I was delighted to find that the film was
about a screenwriter in Hollywood (Brooks) who hits a rough spot in his
career and struggles to make it again. The perfect opportunity for
charming and delightful (and in most cases, hilariously funny) cameos.
Jennifer Tilly, Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, Rob Reiner, Lorenzo
Lamas, Wolfgang Puck... these are the ones I'm remembering offhand.
Without giving too much away, Stone plays a modern day muse... (you
know, as in the daughters of Zeus)... who has been behind the scenes
helping Hollywood power players to make their best decisions for the
past few years. Brooks learns of her existence from his successful
writer friend Jack (Bridges) and decides that she is just what he needs
to help him get back on top.
Brooks delivers exactly what you want and expect him to deliver... he's
in top form here... as a writer, as a director and as a performer. His
timing is impeccable. Andie MacDowell, as his wife, is adequate. And
Bridges, in the supporting role, doesn't have a whole lot to do. But
he's Jeff Bridges, so you love him anyway. It's Stone here who is the
real marvel. I have never thought Stone was much of an actress. This
film doesn't really change that opinion, but it does make me like her
more. She's not a phenomenal actress in this film, she's just LOADS of
fun. With very few exceptions, Stone commands every scene she's in.
She's breezy, she's kooky, she's utterly likeable.
Having come into this film in a rather pissy mood, I left with an
enormous smile on my face. I found every aspect of it to be charming
and delightful. Those lil Hollywood jabs didn't hurt neither. And it
sent a very sly and memorable message across to boot. I found myself
constantly remembering why I liked Albert Brooks so much in the first
place. One scene in particular... involving Brooks and a man who wasn't
understanding English all that well... vintage Brooks... and one of the
funniest scenes I've seen on screen in a long long time. I wasn't told
when this was coming out, so be on the look out for it. Oh, and FYI...
boyfriend loved it too.
Call me Wendy Kroy.
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+ Expand All
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Looks like Super Dave's brother read the DOGMA script online.
Serendipity? Hmmmmm.... -
The ultimate "muse" movie is still "Xanadu," for my money. Sharon Stone is great, sure, but can she inspire Albert Brooks to build the world's biggest, brightest, best roller disco and make you BELIEVE it? I rest my case.
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It's about time Stone veered from her typically humorless roles. She is obviously a hottie but it would be nice to see her smile and laugh for once instead of always being dour and intense. Someone should write her a good comedy, let her do the carole Lombard thing. My humble career advice for Stone: intellectual comedy. Get back with Woody, who gave you your first role. Only this time, take the juicy Judy Davis role.
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Yes, Elton John's score was on the film already. That is one thing I meant to talk about and forgot... thanks for reminding me. I remember thinking a couple of times during the film (at the time, I didn't know it was Elton who did the music... don't ask what I was doing during opening credits).. the the music was really really good. It was different than most scores for comedic films, just enough to make you think, "Hey... cool." Certainly not so different as to be distracting or take anything away from the story or film itself. One other thing I forgot: Steven Wright has a rather amusing cameo as well. And to the lil poster who liked Xanadu, right on! I dig any movie in which Olivia Newton John has the balls to dance side by side with Mr. Gene Kelly. What a broad. --Wendy Kroy
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I love Albert Brooks -- one of the most original comic minds ever -- and find it hard to believe he would stoop to plagiarize Kevin Smith, as the first posting suggests. Seeing as how I'm probably the only geek who DIDN'T read the DOGMA script online, can someone explain how the two stories are similar?
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Has Albert Brooks EVER made a watchable movie? I can recall trying to sit through at least three or four of them, but I either fell asleep, left, or realized I was in the wrong theater. His films aren't funny, interesting, or even intellectual. How does he get backing for these films? When is the last time any of his films made any money or had an audience that remembered it? I worked in a video store for two years and NEVER saw one person rent an Albert Brooks film. Everything I've ever seen in an Albert Brooks movie has either been done better before or never should have been done at all. THe only film worth anything that I can think of that he has done is Lost in America.
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Perhaps the reason you don't find Brooks' films watchable is because the writing is an acquired taste! He's what I like to call a watered down version of Woody Allen. Allen's films never attract a large audience-a core audience -yes!That doesn't mean he isn't a genius,just an acquired taste,and the same should be said for Brooks.
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I've been a huge fan of Albert Brooks ever since the shorts he did for the original Saturday Night Live, especially the one where he pays a surgeon to let him perfom a coronary bypass, just for the experience. When shopping for intelligent Jewish-American comedian/film-makers, these days, Brooks is The One. Not that race/religion yadda yadda yadda has anything to do with comedy, but from a proud tradition, what do we have left? Mel Brooks seems to have gotten a little senile. Woody Allen's personal life has infected his films with bile; and each year, he becomes more and more of a hack. Adam Sandler is - well, I said "intelligent," and I doubt he could direct. No, Albert Brooks wears the crown, and I greatly look forward to this new project, first heard about here. PS: Sharon Stone *IS* MY MUSE!
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Veeeeery early in the casting process, years ago... Albert Brooks was sent a script of DOGMA... they were looking at him for the role of Cardinal Glick, the role George Carlin eventually took.
One of the major characters is Serendipity, a muse trapped in the human form of an attractive woman who's backstory is in specializing in giving screenwriters all their ideas.
Suddenly, a few months later, Albert Brooks starts passing around his MUSE script...
I think that any intelligent person can connect the dots. -
I saw Albert Brooks do a routine about a Muse *TWENTY YEARS* ago in a nightclub in Boston. It was one of the funniest routines I've ever seen.
I think it's Kevin Smith who needs to answer some questions.
I'm sure he was in the audience.
Harry -
Maybe the person who said that Brooks is un-watchable needs to rent Defending your Life and Mother. Maybe you should be spending more time in warm bathing light of a great movie than working at blockbuster.
Now I worked at a blockbuster for 7 months and never saw anyone rent an Albert Brooks film but that is because people who rent movies at blockbuster couldn't tell you who martin Scorsese is let alone Albert Brooks. Albert Brooks constantly makes funny and great movies and even though he didn't direct network his performance in it was perfect. -
of all the Albert Brooks mentioned here I can't belive I'm the first to mention one of his most recognizable works...the outstanding BROADCAST NEWS with Holly Hunter. Yes Brooks is an acquired taste whose works aren't for everyone, but everyone should watch his movies. Funny, timely and Poinget. Oh yeah and how could you forget his opening acting bit on Twilight Zone the movie, when Dan Ankroyd eats him...classic
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Yikers, it's getting hot over there in Robogeeks POE Talkback. Think I'll beat the heat over here. (Scheisse, you just say that you have problems with Christianity...)
This sounds interesting. The idea of a modern day muse is pretty cool. I think it would be interesting if they invented a new classical muse instead of just having someone who is supposed to be a muse. And have new muses for movies, music, books, comic books. The movie one could be called Celluloidia. Heh. Or not. The project doesn't sound very distinguished to me, but it might be fun. The cameos sound kind of funny. -
this reminds me of allen's mighty aphrodite. with the greek mythology characters guiding a writer. woody's character was a sportswriter, but still........
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Am I the only person who thinks that skanky hag is the worst fucking actress on the planet?! An Oscar nom for Casino??!! For what, screaming "Fuck you!!" at the top of her lungs!! Give me a break!!
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Moose...yes, you are the only person on the planet who thinks this way
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If you're accusing Albert Brooks of stealing the plot from somewhere, at least get the origin's correctly. He's stealing his idea of Muse inspiration from Homer, Ovid, Virgil, and Milton (have you heard of any of those people?) each of whom asked for the inspiration of the Muse. And last I saw, Homer's been dead for over 70 years, so the copyright has expired. -Loki
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Good one, Wendy. The movie's one of the finest.
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