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Muse, The

EMAILPRINTOctober Films / USA Films

Muse, The reviews
56
10.0 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 29 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 2 votes
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Drama

Written by: Albert Brooks
Monica Mcgowan Johnson

Directed by: Albert Brooks

Release Date:
Theatrical: August 27, 1999
DVD: February 15, 2000

Running Time: 97 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: PG-13 for brief nudity

Starring Albert Brooks, Sharon Stone, Andie MacDowell, Jeff Bridges, and Steven Wright

Stephen Phillips (Brooks) is a veteran screenwriter who has lost his edge. Fellow screenwriter with recent successes (Bridges) refers him to the mythical "Zeus's Daughter" Sarah (Stone), a professional muse whom he pays and showers with gifts for her to inspire his writing of can't-miss scripts.

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Washington Post Desson Thomson

The list of great moments is virtually endless.

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88

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.

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88

Boston Globe Jay Carr

The season's brightest piece of counterprogramming.

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80

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

A delectable comic performance by Sharon Stone.

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80

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

The sharpest inside Hollywood comedy in quite a while.

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75

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

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

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75

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

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

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75

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

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

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75

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Laceratingly funny Hollywood comedy.

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67

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

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

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67

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

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

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63

New York Post Rod Dreher

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

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63

USA Today Susan Wloszczyna

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

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63

Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard

Brooks' least satisfying film in quite a while.

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63

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

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

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60

Film.com Robert Horton

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

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60

Village Voice J. Hoberman

As consistently funny as it is smartly tooled.

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50

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

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

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50

San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann

Largely and insider's joke.

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50

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

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

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50

Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday

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

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50

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

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

42

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

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

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40

Dallas Observer Hal Hinson

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

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40

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

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

40

TV Guide Ken Fox

Some good lines notwithstanding, this is a real disappointment.

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30

Film.com Ernest Hardy

Derivative, cliché-ridden and old hat.

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30

LA Weekly Manohla Dargis

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

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20

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

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

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 10.0 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Ryan M. gave it a 10:
It's the kind of refreshing suprise of a weekender that has funny trailers, but doesn't give itself away.

Brian P. gave it a 10:
I loved this movie. I love Albert Brooks humor.

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