"It was twenty years ago today..." said the Beatles. If we check the record (no pun intended) we find that it was also twenty years ago that Albert Brooks and Monica Johnson first shared writing credit on a movie. That movie was Real Life. Funny then, funny now. Brooks and Johnson have collaborated on that rare hit comedy that doesn't have to either gross us out, or use extreme physicality to get laughs. The laughs are in the story, the dialogue, and the delivery of the wonderfully written lines.

Brooks took time from writing and directing Muse to also star in it as Stephen Phillips, a screenwriter who is about to find out that Hollywood has decided he's lost his edge. I have no more clue what that particular phrasing means than anyone else, but it is how Stephen is being told that people don't want to make a movie he's written. With a wife (Andie MacDowell) and two kids to support, Stephen is a bit frantic to find a way to recover the career he sees slipping away.

He turns to a friend in the industry Jack, (Jeff Bridges, who is pretty good in his small role) who tells him about Sarah, who is a Muse. Not just some chanteuse who provides some small inspiration, but one of the daughters of Zeus. After some pleading Jack agrees to put Stephen in touch with Sarah.

Sarah is played by Sharon Stone, and she's very, very good in this movie, as well as showing a much wider range than many thought she had. She's come a long way from Above the Law and Total Recall. But unlike her recent strong performances in Casino and The Mighty, here Stone is playing for laughs and getting them.

Stephen installs Sarah at the Four Seasons Hotel at an astronomical cost in both dollars and inconvenience as he finds himself at her beck and call. Ultimately she ends up ensconced in the Phillips' guest house. The tension as Sarah begins influencing every aspect of life in the Phillips' home while Stephen struggles to finish the movie he is trying to write is palpable and it works. To detail too much of what goes on would spoil it for someone reading this who hasn't seen the movie and I think Muse good enough that it shouldn't be spoiled that way. I will say that the cameos are a lot of fun.

The only weak part of Muse is the resolution of this conflict and the relationship between Stephen and Sarah. It seemed almost as though the movie was written at one sitting by Brooks and Johnson and that they lost their head of steam toward the end of a long writing session. There were better alternatives available than what they ultimately chose. But this minor flaw doesn't detract that much from what was a very enjoyable 97 minutes of movie experience.