After winning a lifetime achievement award, esteemed
screenwriter Steven Phillips has a rude awakening. Believing the award has no real meaning, he finds out it means his career is over. His studio has reneged on renewing his contract, telling him he's "lost his edge." Junior exec Josh Martin tells him over lunch that his new script is dull and he is to be off the lot by five. Desperate to revive his career, he seeks advice from very successful screenwriter Jack, who arranges an introduction to Sarah, a modern-day
muse who can inspire anyone. She has lavish demands (expensive hotel rooms, gifts from
Tiffany's), much to his wife Laura's chagrin. Steven isn't sure if she is authentic or a charlatan. She takes him to
Long Beach, where they bump into writer-director
Rob Reiner, whom Sarah clearly knows. There, Steven gets an idea for a movie set in an aquarium, with
Jim Carrey as the lead. As Sarah's demands increase, Steven's apprehensive wife begins to be won over. Through the muse's encouragement Laura decides to pursue her dream of baking and selling cookies, to great success. To save money, Sarah is invited to move into their house. Steven, however, is frustrated because she spends more time helping others — Hollywood writers and directors like
James Cameron and
Martin Scorsese, who come to Steven's house to see her. He even surrenders his own bedroom to her, sleeping in the guest house. When he pleads for a good ending for his aquarium screenplay, Sarah points Steven in the right direction, inspiring him with a great idea. Steven's agent Hal is thrilled and urges him to finish the script as quickly as possible, which he does. The following morning, though, two visitors come to Steven's, doctors from a mental clinic. They tell him Sarah is an escaped psychiatric patient from their asylum with
multiple personality disorder. They find the whole "muse" idea hilarious. When they try to find Sarah to take her back, they discover that she has escaped and decide not to look for her, as she can come and go anytime she wants. The junior exec, Josh, loves Steven's script but breaks the news it is already in production at another studio — by Rob Reiner. A broken-hearted Steven goes to work in his wife's new cookie business. Things look up when the agent calls to tell Steven that the Reiner project fell through and the studio wants to purchase his version, contingent upon a few changes. An excited Steven goes to the studio, where a secretary reveals that Josh was fired for stealing and they have a new boss in charge, Christine. Steven is shocked to see Christine is Sarah in a black wig. She takes Steven's arm and insists that they discuss the changes over a nice, expensive lunch, which she expects him to pay for. Steven frantically tries to comprehend what is happening. ==Cast==