Muse, The

Washington Post Desson Thomson

The list of great moments is virtually endless.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

A real gem: a deadpan fantasy that turns into one of the best pictures ever about the post-"Star Wars" studio moviemaking era.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

The season's brightest piece of counterprogramming.

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

A delectable comic performance by Sharon Stone.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

The sharpest inside Hollywood comedy in quite a while.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Good but not great Brooks... but smart, funny -- and edgy.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

It's so clean a film, you could bring your grandmother.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Clever, often hilarious, inside-Hollywood farce that makes the most of... a delightfully absurd premise.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Laceratingly funny Hollywood comedy.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

You're looking for the mammoth home run, and the film is merely a bloop single.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

One of the more intelligent comedies out there this summer -- it's not Brooks' best.

New York Post Rod Dreher

Begins so briskly and promisingly to stumble aimlessly and flat-footedly to a surprise finale.

USA Today Susan Wloszczyna

It's a case of laughing at Brooks but not necessarily with him.

Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard

Brooks' least satisfying film in quite a while.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

No second or third act... a one-joke premise and a hundred punchlines.

Film.com Robert Horton

Enough well-conceived jokes that the whole thing works very nicely.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

As consistently funny as it is smartly tooled.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

The execution of the script is perfect, as always, but it's the laziest script Brooks has ever directed.

San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann

Largely and insider's joke.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Most of the time the movie limps amiably toward its feeble conclusion.

Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday

A toothless series of vignettes rather than an insider satire on par with, say, "Bowfinger."

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

A blatant sell-out, a wink-nudge pander to Hollywood, disguised as satire.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

An embarrassment--a fairy-tale showbiz satire that seems to defang itself, scene by scene.

Dallas Observer Hal Hinson

The material turns out to be far soggier in the execution.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Built on a slender, one-joke whimsy -- and a tough one to buy into, at that.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Some good lines notwithstanding, this is a real disappointment.

Film.com Ernest Hardy

Derivative, cliché-ridden and old hat.

LA Weekly Manohla Dargis

If only the whole thing were as funny as an Albert Brooks movie.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

As The Muse chugs along, it becomes more apparent how tired and pointless it is.