Tags: Albert Brooks | Andie MacDowell | Jeff Bridges | Sharon Stone

I'm not a big fan of Albert Brook movies, I must admit that his blend of comedy doesn't appeal to me, and obviously to others as well.

The Muse, a movie that was dumped by Paramount, took about a year to find a home at the newly developed USA Films. Paranoid, bad-tempered, desperate and disillusioned characters pervade this story of an LA screenwriter with a writing career that has lost its edge.

And since Albert co-wrote, directed and starred in it, you have to wonder where he got his inspiration for this story. From the Muse? One of 12 daughters of Zeus, Sarah (Sharon Stone) has the lineage of a goddess but basically the personality of an annoying freeloader. The concept is set to lead to some big-screen comedy, but the story just rambles on and never picks up an energetic momentum. Sharron Stone is not funny.

After the only slightly funny scene, when his friend, successful screenwriter Jack Warrick (Jeff Bridges) tells him about the Muse, and arranges a meeting for him to become her client, this movie just blows. I could try to tell you here how bad it was, but as film critic Michael J. Legeros of Movie Hell said it better, I'll just quote him here. "Sounds hilarious. Should be hilarious. Should at least be *half*-hilarious. And, folks, it don't even come close.

We're talkin' near-total suckage, here; an utterly, totally, and absolutely butt-numbing, blood-stanching, wince-inducing, watch-watching, eyelid-drooping, seat-squirming, BOWFINGER-is-twenty-times-funnier, long, long, *long* sit." If you want to see a funny story with a sexier Muse, check out Dogma's Selma Heyek, which is now available for downloading if you missed it in the theaters.

And if you liked this The Muse, well, I suggest you desperately seek counsel. It does, however, provide a warning that all artists should heed: "Never, under any circumstances, piss off a muse." Makes me wonder which Muse's bad side Brooks jumped on while making this movie.