RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
RT's Blu-ray HQ
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | In Theaters
  • | Opening
  • | Upcoming
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / The Muse
The Muse

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Get this Movie
  • Buy Poster External Icon
  • Visit Official Site External Icon
Bookmark and Share

The Muse (1999)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
53 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:75

Fresh:40

Rotten:35

Average Rating:5.9/10

Consensus: Despite quirky and original writing, the subject matter feels too removed to produce laughs.

Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins

Genre: Comedies

Synopsis: Albert Brooks is Steven Phillips, a veteran screenwriter of 17 films who is told he has lost his edge. A fellow writer with a string of successes under his belt (Jeff Bridges) refers Phillips to... Albert Brooks is Steven Phillips, a veteran screenwriter of 17 films who is told he has lost his edge. A fellow writer with a string of successes under his belt (Jeff Bridges) refers Phillips to Sarah (Sharon Stone), a professional muse (see Greek mythology). In exchange for the royal treatment and a showering of expensive gifts, she will grace writers with her presence, which seems to magically spark profitable ideas from the client's mind. Is her power real or is it all in her clients' heads? Why does Jack's wife develop a delicious and profitable cookie recipe in Sarah's company? Brooks uses his usual biting wit and thoroughly neurotic sensibility to lampoon the Hollywood lifestyle. As in THE PLAYER, many personalities appear as themselves to take a shot--most especially a hilariously jacked-up Martin Scorsese and a desperate James Cameron. Sharon Stone is unexpectedly funny as the capricious, avaricious muse who turns Phillips's life upside down. Brooks is his usual dry, hilarious self. [More]

Starring: Albert Brooks, Sharon Stone, Andie MacDowell, Jeff Bridges

Starring: Albert Brooks, Sharon Stone, Andie MacDowell, Jeff Bridges

Director: Albert Brooks

Director: Albert Brooks
Screenwriter: Albert Brooks, Monica Johnson
Producer: Herb Nanas

[See More Credits]

Get This Movie

Rent DVD
 
 

Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.

 
 
Buy DVD
 
 
Release:

Aug 1, 2000

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for The Muse

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

The film delivers one caustic comic highlight after another.

Full Review Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel | comment Comment
01/01/00
Todd Anthony
Todd Anthony
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Though consistently fun in an Albert Brooks kind of way, this film drags its feet with the business of building to a climax.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Report Card | comment Comment
01/01/00
Ross Anthony
Ross Anthony
Hollywood Report Card

Clever, often hilarious.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
01/01/00
William Arnold
William Arnold
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

The lead performances of Brooks, MacDowell, and Stone are critical to the story’s success, and ultimately fall flat.

Full Review Source: Palo Alto Weekly | comment Comment
01/01/00
Jeanne Aufmuth
Jeanne Aufmuth
Palo Alto Weekly

A dark and often unattractive movie.

comment Comment
01/01/00
David L. Beck
David L. Beck
San Jose Mercury News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The screenplay, despite containing a number of droll one-liners and a pair of deliciously funny scenes, possesses a turgid, directionless feel.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
01/01/00
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It's imaginative enough to provide a reliable, pleasurable stream of chuckles and midsized laughs.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Peter Brunette
Peter Brunette
Film.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Squeezes out plenty of laughs at the expense of the Hollywood film community.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
02/28/02
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

Appropriately enough, it seems that Brooks and Johnson needed a muse of their own to really make this film work.

Full Review Source: TheMovieReport.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Michael Dequina
Michael Dequina
TheMovieReport.com

It's good for some sterling one-liners and a generous handful of sparkling scenes, but after a strong, peppery start, the movie collapses into bland mush for want of anything interesting to say.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
01/01/00
Rod Dreher
Rod Dreher
New York Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Mildly a-'Muse'-ing.

Full Review Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | comment Comment
01/01/00
Duane Dudek
Duane Dudek
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Smart, funny -- and edgy.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
01/01/00
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The Muse is to be treasured as a funny man's funniest film to date.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
01/01/00
Bruce Feld
Bruce Feld
Film Journal International

The Muse will appeal to anyone who has ever tried their hand at a creative endeavor.

Full Review Source: Credo | comment Comment
01/01/00
David Forsmark
David Forsmark
Credo

The Muse is an underdeveloped, lackluster effort, despite a sparkling comic turn by Sharon Stone.

Full Review Source: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle | comment Comment
01/01/00
Jack Garner
Jack Garner
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

Perversely amusing!

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
01/01/00
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

An embarrassment.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Brooks' gentle satire of Hollywood.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
08/25/08
Rob Gonsalves
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com

The Muse might have worked better if it didn't presume that we're all as interested in the machinations of Hollywood as Brooks is.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
01/01/00
Edward Guthmann
Edward Guthmann
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

What's most surprising about The Muse is how derivative, cliche-ridden and old-hat it is.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Ernest Hardy
Ernest Hardy
Film.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 >> >|
all

Latest News for The Muse

March 30, 2006: Critical Consensus: "Slither" Is Certified Fresh, "Ice Age 2" Is Lukewarm, "ATL" Is Hot, And "Basic 2" Is Very, Very Bad
This week at the movies, we've got a pair of sequels that will appeal to widely disparate demographics ("Ice Age 2: The Meltdown," "Basic Instinct 2"), a... More...

September 23, 2005: Abrams Pal to Deliver "Top Secret" MI:3 Cameo
ComingSoon.net delivers a nifty little nugget from a TV Guide interview that involves an actor, a very popular TV show, and a top-secret cameo in the next "Mission:... More...

See All

More DVDs

Close
Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
44% 44% Night at the Museum: B…
32% 32% Terminator Salvation
36% 36% Angels & Demons
95% 95% Star Trek
25% 25% Four Christmases

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
88% 88% Inglourious Basterds
78% 78% The Hangover
49% 49% Taking Woodstock
26% 26% The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard
47% 47% The Girl From Monaco

More New Releases…

See All

RT On Current TV

The Rotten Tomatoes Show on Current TV

DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...

Learn how you can be part of the show

More...

What’s Hot On RT

Sam Worthington

Sam Worthington

A video interview with the Avatar star!

Sorcerer's Apprentice

Sorcerer's Apprentice

Throwing fireballs with Nicolas Cage!

Golden Globes

Golden Globes

Up in the Air leads with 6 noms!

Nominee Gallery

Nominee Gallery

See who got nominated for Golden Globes!

Other News

Close
  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • ET Teases Iron Man 2 Teaser Source: Collider.com
6
  • Tobey Maguire Refutes Hobbit Rumors Source: Hollywood Reporter
4
  • Prince of Persia Featurette Posted Source: Yahoo! Movies
2
  • Trailer Bulletin: Robin Hood Source: ComingSoon.net
51
  • Mel Gibson Plans a Mexican Vacation Source: Variety
8
  • New Iron Man 2 Clue Posted Source: Screen Rant
24
  • Gibson and DiCaprio are Going Norse Source: HitFix
66
  • Lord of the Rings Coming to Blu-ray April 6 Source: Hollywood Reporter
8
  • Tobey Maguire Rumored for The Hobbit Source: Latino Review
42
  • Mila Kunis Talks Aronofsky's Black Swan Source: Collider.com
13
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Tomatometer Watch: Will Avatar Live Up To The Hype?
236
  • Awards Tour 2009: Golden Globe Noms Here!
111
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: Girlpower Rules Again with Princess at #1
70
  • Awards Tour 2009: Inglourious Basterds Lead Critics Choice Noms
42
  • Awards Tour 2009: Avatar Best Picture at NYFCO!
38
  • The Gimmicks That Changed Cinema: Part 1
37
  • Weekly Ketchup: James Cameron Plans a Fantastic Voyage
33
  • The Effects of Where the Wild Things Are
30
  • Robert Downey Jr. talks Sherlock Holmes & Iron Man 2 - RT Interview
21
  • Critics Consensus: Princess, Invictus Are Certified Fresh
21
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • Robert Downey Jr. talks Sherlock Holmes & Iron Man 2 - RT Interview
21
  • Director Ruben Fleischer Talks Zombieland
2
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
17
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
12
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
23
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
8
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
15
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
23
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
9
  • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
28
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • The Muse at Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh Links

Featured
Best Sci-Fi This Decade
Best Sci-Fi This Decade External Link

Techland lists the best Sci-Fi films of this decade.

40 Worst Films of the 2000s
40 Worst Films of the 2000s External Link

Moviefone takes a look back at the biggest stinkers of the past 10 years.

10 Questions For Zac Efron
10 Questions For Zac Efron External Link

The Me and Orson Welles star answers reader questions on TIME.com.

Best Decade Ever!
Best Decade Ever! External Link

Hollywood.com's C. Robert Cargill offers his thoughts on what the best decade for film was.

Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure External Link

In the AV Club's "Scenic Routes," Mike D'Angelo reminisces about the Tim Burton film.

Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Follow RT on Twitter External Link

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Games| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.