Hey folks Harry here. Last night they tested Albert Brooks' latest film... THE MUSE and Segue Zagnut (along with Joe Hallenbeck, who will be sending us his comments later on) saw the film in all of it's unfinished splendor. THIS IS NOT THE FINAL CUT. The whole purpose of this screening was for Albert to watch the audience watch his movie, to see what worked and what didn't. Albert will undoubtedly go back into editing to make the timing work. This process, with a comedy is absolutely vital. It's akin to a comedian trying out new material on several stages at many clubs, tweaking his delivery so it's just.... right enough to take the big stage. So the problems you hear here, will in all likelihood be tweaked by the time THE MUSE hits your local screens. Also, Segue sent his RUSHMORE review, which is for a movie that is just wonderful.
Head Geek,
This is Segue Zagnut and I'm not of many words. Last night I saw 'The Muse', Albert Brooks' new comedy. NRG screened it on the Warner Brothers lot and you could not get in if you had not seen at least two of five Brooks' movies listed. I am a fan and had seen 4 of the 5 movies. It definitely looked like a work print, because some edits jumped and the colors were sometimes uneven from scene to scene, but there were no audience questionnaires to fill out at the end of the movie. So either this was his final cut (which I doubt) or he just wanted to gage crowd reaction. Interestingly, Brooks actually was the one who did the opening speech preparing us for the unfinished movie.
This movie is about a reasonably respected screenplay writer (Albert Brooks) who, when confronted with what looks like the end of his career, seeks a woman (Sharon Stone) who claims to be a Muse of Greek god lore, to reclaim his writing edge. Once he hooks up with her, She takes over his life, mostly with constant demands for expensive gifts or odd errands. She even takes over his wife's life (Andie MacDowell) and his house. He gets very little time to even be inspired to write. Meanwhile the Muse makes time to help MacDowell and several major Hollywood players (Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, Rob Riener, Jeff Bridges), who drop by in often very funny cameos, find whatever they need. Eventually, she does inspire him to write his best script ever and all appears to be well until... we find out she's escaped from a mental institution and is not actually a muse.
Overall there are very funny scenes but this version of the movie fell flat. Why? I think three reasons. Unfortunately only one can be 'fixed' before it comes out. First, a lot of the humor is industry based. For example, most of the cameo jokes rely on you recognizing the star and knowing their work. I know Jennifer Tilly was in a movie with a talking doll named Chucky, but do most people even know who Jennifer Tilly is? This isn't something I'd suggest should be fixed, but with so much of the humor here, how wide of an audience will get it?
Second, Andie MacDowell again proves she is a horrible actress. Sharon Stone is great, Brooks excellent, MacDowell... boring. She was good in 'Sex, Lies..' and, because she was only the straight man, she was acceptable in 'Groundhog's Day'. But who thinks she's funny? Hello... see 'Greencard', 'Hudson Hawk', 'Multiplicity'... should I go on? She is as stiff with comedy as Jim Carey is loose. The movie needs chemistry between Stone and MacDowell that just isn't there.
And Third, and possibly the only part they could fix, the ending sucks. Well, it is not just the ending, but it could be fixed there. Through out the movie Jeff Bridges keeps warning "Don't let her too close" "Don't make her mad", but nothing happens with that. Near the end, we find out she might actually be an escaped mental patient, then she vanishes. After that things go bad for Brooks, his great script turns out to be the same film someone else is doing and he ends up working a crape sales job. Is this because she's mad or coincidence? Then suddenly, the evil studio executive been fired, the other movie is dead, and Brooks' script is back on. It's a happy ending with Stone turning up as the new studio excessive right at the end... so does that mean she actually was a Muse? and if so is she now happy and that's why things changed? Or what? It would make more sense if she got mad, caused the bad things to happen, then when Brooks finds out she might be a fake he let's her get away and that's why she makes everything end up okay. At least it is the only way that I can make sense out of it. But I'll be the first to admit maybe I just didn't get it.
I've said too much.
The RUSHMORE REVIEW
Here my Rushmore review...
Head Geek
I'm Segue Zagnut and I won't say much. I recently saw 'Rushmore'. It opens nationwide in February or something but was in LA for one week for Oscar. This film will be a classic. Excellently acted. Healthy supporting roles. Sarcasm and substance well crafted into a satirical slam dunk. The story is simple: Max Fisher, a 15 year old boy who has succeeded at everything but school, decides to conquer a teacher for his first girlfriend.
What makes it brilliant, and it is brilliant, are the details. The way Max excels in life. The charisma. The symbolic extremes. Small points like what makes Max choose the teacher. Big points like the obsession of Rushmore.
Jason Schwartzman plays Max perfectly. Innocent but casually confident. Bill Murray is understated and yet not subtle. It works. Olivia Williams, who plays the teacher, is a real person that grounds the film, keeping it from turning ridicules. Writer/Director Wes Anderson made an original comedy with timing and style.
I saw a trailer for this weeks ago and the trailer made it look typical and stupid. Ignore it, because twenty years from now people will look back at 'Rushmore' like they do 'Harold and Maude' or the 'The Graduate'
I've said too much.
