Notebook Reviews: THE MUSE

Albert Brooks – 1999

Writer/director/star Albert Brooks‘ The Muse isn’t a bad Hollywood satire, but it’s not quite as biting as it thinks it is. The cast is good (Brooks, Jeff Bridges, Sharon Stone, Andie McDowell) and the cameos are fun (James Cameron, Martin Scorsese, Rob Reiner, Lorenzo Lamas!) but Brooks never feels right as the neurotic writer and the script isn’t quite sharp enough.

It coasts along being amiable and it has its moments, but ultimately The Muse doesn’t quite have the edge of something like Robert Altman’s The Player.