1999 - THE MUSE. Albert Brooks bites the Hollywood hand that feeds him.

Albert Brooks is a screenwriter trying to get a film project off the ground in that den of thieves called Hollywood.  Unable to get anywhere with the studio brass he learns of a woman who is a "Muse" for  people in the entertainment world suffering from creative blocks.  Brooks engages her to help him write a new screenplay and close a deal to get his film made.   It turns out that maybe the Muse might be a little bit crazy.

 As with many Albert Brooks comedies, The Muse is a very subtle and at times a very funny comedy.  Brooks has assembled a great cast which includes Sharon Stone as the muse, Jeff Bridges as his successful screenwriter friend, Andie MacDowell as his cookie baking wife and in two very amusing cameos from superstar directors James Cameron and Martin Scorcese.

 

I suppose this film will mostly appeal to fans of Albert Brooks, most people probably can't relate to  satirizing Hollywood or the problems a successful screenwriter is having getting a movie made.  For the most part I enjoyed it.

 

Written by Albert Brooks and Monica Johnson, the running time is 97 minutes.

1996 - MOTHER, another Albert Brooks observational comedy.

This quiet laid back comedy from satirist Albert Brooks is probably a little too laid back for its own good.  The story involves a writer who is attempting to come to grips with his relationship with his mother.  His decision is to move back home and live with his mother while he gets his head on straight.

Brooks and Debbie Reynolds are good as the son and the mother and the rest of what cast there is does their best to wring some laughs out of the situation.

The film is somewhat of a change of pace for Albert Brooks who usually has the knives out with his usual con artist character.  Here he tries for something a little more normal with his character.

A not bad picture it has some quiet laughs.

123 minutes. Written by Albert Brooks and Monica Johnson.

1979 - REAL LIFE, Albert Brooks very funny/strange/intense mock documentary

Comedian and filmmaker Albert Brook's first film is about a filmmaker named "Albert Brooks" attempting to document the life of a "real family" in the city of Phoenix.

This is a film with some seriously funny and weird stuff in it.  It  anticipates the "reality TV " shows  that plague just about every cable TV network.  It's creepy and prescient how much Brooks got right about this deplorable genre of TV shows.

The film is well cast with a funny standout performance from Charles Grodin who is kind of a forgotten actor today.  Grodin's really got the pathetic upper middle class character down as he schlumps his way through Brook's ridiculous documentary.    

Real Life depends on the comedic personality of the bull**** artist "Albert Brooks" character Brooks has perfected.  Brooks is very funny but also very obnoxious and after a while it gets to be somewhat of an endurance contest to sit through this film.  A montage sequence with the family at the Phoenix zoo could have been easily dropped from the film.

Real Life is satire of American media and life at a very high level.  

99 minutes, written by Albert Brooks, Monica Johnson and Harry Shearer.