For all you Albert Brooks fans... here's the latest on THE MUSE... We've had some other reports on the film that were both positive and negative, but here's a look at the latest cut of the film....
After having been an Albert Brooks fan for several years I was lucky enough to be invited to a screening of his newest movie, called THE MUSE, at the studio theatre on the Paramount lot.
I had heard a couple of things about this movie, namely that Sharon Stone and Andie McDowell were in it, along with Mr.Brooks, and that it deals with a real-live muse living and working in Hollywood. Never having been a huge fan of Andie McDowell, I was a bit apprehensive of her involvement, but I was curious and interested how Sharon Stone would do in a comedy.
Turns out that my concerns were unfounded, and my curiosity pleasantly satisfied. McDowell wasn't too obtrusive, playing Mr.Brooks' screen wife, and Sharon Stone surprised me in playing comedy well. To quickly summarize - this was a very funny movie, and I found myself laughing a lot. It had plenty of that wry humor that I have come to appreciate in Mr.Brooks' movies, but it also had some great situational comedy, spiked with humorous cameos by various big-wigs of the movie business - James Cameron, and Martin Scorcese were some of my favorites.
As you can guess, the movie makes fun of the Hollywood movie industry, and while this is not necessarily a new concept for a movie, Mr.Brooks finds brand new twists and angles in his 'take' on it all (no pun intended)- not the least of which is how readily his characters jump at the concept of the muse being real, in hopes of unblocking his writer's block, and as a result, reigniting his career.
I really enjoyed the music. Apparently Elton John (a personal favorite of mine as well) provided the score, and it's a match made in heaven. Obviously, I wasn't the only one who felt that way, since the rest of the room reacted very positively to the screening (so, at least I know it wasn't just me). Overall it was a hell of a lot more fun than wa
