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Best movie of this year hands down!

Boring

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

"Music Within" tells the true story of Richard Pimentel, a Vietnam vet who lost almost all of his hearing on the battlefield and who spent the rest of his life advocating for the rights of the disabled. In fact, Pimentel was instrumental in getting the Americans With Disabilities Act passed into law.Hampered by pedestrian direction by Steven Sawalich and a superficial script, the film, nevertheless, boasts enough humorously sardonic moments to keep it from taking itself too seriously. The relationship between Richard and his longtime girlfriend Christine (played by Melissa George, who's a dead ringer for a young Sandy Dennis) is dealt with in trite and overly familiar terms, and the filmmaking itself never rises much above the level of disease-of-the-week, TV-movie competence.Still, the performances are good - especially by Michael Sheen as Richard's best buddy, Art Honeyman, a genius with Cerebral Palsy - and the material itself so moving and inspiring that one can easily overlook the movie's numerous stylistic weaknesses. And, besides, you get to see the late great Leslie Nielson in one of his last - and briefest - appearances as a forward-thinking doctor who changes Richard's life forever.

Fantastic script quirky at times and heart wrenching at others. Fantastic Cast and great acting across the board,, Everyone should watch and enjoy this great movie and story!! Yul Vazquez character is right on, and the character of "ART" what a fantastic job congratulations to Micheal sheen. Ron Livingston is absolutely spot on throughout. Melissa George does a great job,, but the list of cast members in this movie is absolutely great from top to bottom they all were wonderful. To put it in just a few words the storyline is great and brilliantly written, you will laugh, cry and come away from it with a new point of view, and Im not sure if it was in theaters or not but it absolutely SHOULD BE!!

"Music Within" shows us that you don't have to wear tights and fly through the air to be considered a hero.The movie tells the true story of Richard Pimentel (who was acted perfectly by the underrated Ron Livingston), a man who was unloved in life, but had a knack for public speaking. He even auditioned to a prestigious college for the speech team, but was turned down because he lacked real experience.So Richard enlists in Vietnam, and during the time there he's a victim of a bombing which took away his sense of hearing. Newly disabled, he tries to get a job only to run into continuous roadblocks because of his newfound liability.He forms an odd friendship with Art Honeyman (also wonderfully portrayed by Michael Sheen), a man with a crippling disability that renders his body mostly useless, but still maintains an above-average intelligence. Together they take on the system that has shunned them, and thanks to their persistence and effort, Richard is given the opportunity to run programs that allows the disabled to be hired in government positions.Richard Pimentel is an anti-hero. He drinks, he ignores his girlfriend, and he's volatile...which goes to show that a hero doesn't always have to be perfect...they just have to have a vision and the determination to see that vision come to fruition. A truly inspiring story.

A Celebration of Life and the Music Within Each of Us, April 14, 2008 By Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviewsThe life of the extraordinary survivor Richard Pimentel is a fine biography that manages to explore the many phases of a unique man's life with humor, tenderness, and bravado. Though barely recognized in its theatrical release, MUSIC WITHIN should hopefully find a wide audience in the form of this well constructed DVD. There are many significant lessons to be learned from this story (written by Bret McKinney, Mark Andrew Olsen and Kelly Kennemeras) as well as a large dose of entertainment from some superb actors directed by Steven Sawalich (credited with the original idea for the film). Richard Pimentel (Ron Livingston) entered the world as one of the survivors in a series of miscarriages by his mother (Rebecca De Mornay), a deeply disturbed woman who surrendered her only living child to a Catholic orphanage at birth. From there Pimentel grew up with bizarre circumstances, raised by his Chinese father who dies from a working accident. Desperately needing to belong and to recognized, Pimentel became an expert public speaker, but his efforts to gain admission to college were thwarted by college speech professor Ben Padrow (Hector Elizondo) who admired Pimentel's technical abilities on the stage but says he needs to live life to find his 'music within' before he can succeed in college level oratory. Out of need for employment and guarantee for a college education Pimentel joins the military, is sent to Vietnam, where a blast of incoming explosions disables him with deafness. Released from the military without the benefits of Veteran funds, Pimentel deals with his inability to hear, meets Art Honeyman (Michael Sheen) disabled by cerebral palsy and the two strike up a warm friendship: the two can understand each other and form a bond stronger than the critical eye of the 'normal world'. Pimentel meets the beautiful Christine (Melissa George) and soon they bed only to have Pimentel discover the Christine shares her bed with another man. From this point the story picks up a pace that is breathless as Pimentel gains his education and a good job, only to join a group of disabled veterans, and eventually devote his life to fighting for the rights of the disabled. And this is all true! Livingston finds the right balance between dark humor and ambition to create change in a world that views the disabled as 'ugly', and together with Michael Sheen's impeccable performance as the multifaceted cerebral palsy stricken Ken, the spot-on actors transcend the 'docudrama' genre and offer us unforgettable characters that provide a richly entertaining story as well as a plea for understanding the plight of the disabled. The features included with the DVD are full of interviews with the real Richard Pimentel and the actors' and director's responses to the formation of the American Disabilities Act that resulted from this amazing young man's struggle to find his music within. It is a wild ride of a comic film with a very tender message. Highly recommended. Grady Harp