Albert Brooks is possibly the only filmmaker in America whose heroes all drive late model German luxury cars and complain incessantly about how badly life is treating them.
Brooks play Stephen Phillips, a successful screenwriter with a million-dollar house in Pacific Palisades and Andie McDowell as his wife. Unfortunately, his career is on the skids - unctuous movie execs are telling him he's 'lost his edge' and should try a new line of work.
The answer to Phillip's problem is presented by his good friend, a successful writer and producer played by Jeff Bridges. Bridges informs Brooks that the secret to his success is his muse - in this case an actual muse, a daughter of Zeus, who is living in LA and is named Sarah (Sharon Stone). Brooks is so desperate for help that he swallows his disbelief at this news and cajoles a meeting with this muse. 'She's demanding' he's warned, and before he knows it he's putting her up in a suite at the Four Seasons hotel and bringing her Waldorf salads in the middle of the night. In return she promises to 'inspire' him - she won't actually tell him what to write, but when he is with her he will create on his own.
From this premise Brooks spins a comedic yarn about the havoc the muse causes on his personal life (she is eventually moved into his guest house and later, his bed), the absurdity of life and work in Hollywood, and the effect Aunty Sarah is having on his family (including 'inspiring' McDowell to be the next Mrs. Fields). Sarah is a great networker, though - cameos of directors coming to call on her include James Cameron, Martin Scorcese, and Rob Reiner, and when McDowell needs help marketing her cookies, Sarah sets a meeting with Wolfgang Puck, a celebrity chef.
Brooks main problem with this film, and with several other ones, is that he dances between absurd slapstick comedy and a more subversive, internal comedy. Brooks is a comic actor with a skill for understatement, and his Stephen Phillips is capable of showing befuddlement and internal rage at the goings on around him. But the comedy switches between overt and internal, and the film never seems to develop a rhythm as to which it intends to be. Woody Allen compartmentalizes his comedy internally - Jim Carrey exhibits it externally. Brooks shuttles in between. Say what you want about Adam Sandler, at least you know where you stand with him.
Sharon Stone gives a fine performance as the muse - her Sarah is either totally vapid or three steps ahead of the game, and she doesn't give a hint which. I also enjoyed Brook's eventual explanation of her gift - it fits very well into his thesis about how Hollywood really works.
There are many fine comedic moments in this movie, and I recommend it if you like Brooks and are interested in intelligent comedy. My favorite is the plot Brooks and Stone eventually concoct for his next script - Jim Carrey inherits a giant aquarium (the zoological kind people pay to get into) from his uncle. Lots of Ace Ventura type scenes of Carrey ministering to fish. The aquarium is going bankrupt, but then is saved when they discover oil underneath it. Everyone in Hollyood is gaga over this script and can't wait to produce it. And the joke, of course, is that its quite possibly the worst idea for a movie I've ever heard.
Brooks play Stephen Phillips, a successful screenwriter with a million-dollar house in Pacific Palisades and Andie McDowell as his wife. Unfortunately, his career is on the skids - unctuous movie execs are telling him he's 'lost his edge' and should try a new line of work.
The answer to Phillip's problem is presented by his good friend, a successful writer and producer played by Jeff Bridges. Bridges informs Brooks that the secret to his success is his muse - in this case an actual muse, a daughter of Zeus, who is living in LA and is named Sarah (Sharon Stone). Brooks is so desperate for help that he swallows his disbelief at this news and cajoles a meeting with this muse. 'She's demanding' he's warned, and before he knows it he's putting her up in a suite at the Four Seasons hotel and bringing her Waldorf salads in the middle of the night. In return she promises to 'inspire' him - she won't actually tell him what to write, but when he is with her he will create on his own.
From this premise Brooks spins a comedic yarn about the havoc the muse causes on his personal life (she is eventually moved into his guest house and later, his bed), the absurdity of life and work in Hollywood, and the effect Aunty Sarah is having on his family (including 'inspiring' McDowell to be the next Mrs. Fields). Sarah is a great networker, though - cameos of directors coming to call on her include James Cameron, Martin Scorcese, and Rob Reiner, and when McDowell needs help marketing her cookies, Sarah sets a meeting with Wolfgang Puck, a celebrity chef.
Brooks main problem with this film, and with several other ones, is that he dances between absurd slapstick comedy and a more subversive, internal comedy. Brooks is a comic actor with a skill for understatement, and his Stephen Phillips is capable of showing befuddlement and internal rage at the goings on around him. But the comedy switches between overt and internal, and the film never seems to develop a rhythm as to which it intends to be. Woody Allen compartmentalizes his comedy internally - Jim Carrey exhibits it externally. Brooks shuttles in between. Say what you want about Adam Sandler, at least you know where you stand with him.
Sharon Stone gives a fine performance as the muse - her Sarah is either totally vapid or three steps ahead of the game, and she doesn't give a hint which. I also enjoyed Brook's eventual explanation of her gift - it fits very well into his thesis about how Hollywood really works.
There are many fine comedic moments in this movie, and I recommend it if you like Brooks and are interested in intelligent comedy. My favorite is the plot Brooks and Stone eventually concoct for his next script - Jim Carrey inherits a giant aquarium (the zoological kind people pay to get into) from his uncle. Lots of Ace Ventura type scenes of Carrey ministering to fish. The aquarium is going bankrupt, but then is saved when they discover oil underneath it. Everyone in Hollyood is gaga over this script and can't wait to produce it. And the joke, of course, is that its quite possibly the worst idea for a movie I've ever heard.