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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Salesrank: 8916
Released: April 8, 2008 |
| Our Price: $3.59 |
| Used Price: $2.69 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Ron Livingston delivers the performance of a lifetime in this acclaimed film based on the incredible true-life story of Richard Pimentel. Deafened by a bomb blast in Vietnam, Richard (Livingston) returns home and discovers his life's calling: helping others with disabilities, including his fellow veterans. Along with his bestfriend Art (Michael Sheen), a wheelchair-bound rebel with a wicked wit, Richard fights for the rights of those whose voices can't always be heard. Music Within is a powerful and inspiring journey that every American should take.
Description of Music Within:
A movie about a man who fought for the civil rights of the disabled may sound unbearable and self-important, but Music Within will surprise you with its rough, irreverent, and very entertaining wit. Even the title is caustic joke: Richard Pimentel (Ron Livingston, Office Space) comes back from the Vietnam War with a severe ringing in his ears that leaves him virtually deaf. Pimentel finds a new path in life when he starts a career finding jobs for his fellow vets--and forms a deep friendship with Art Honeyman (Michael Sheen, The Queen), a brilliant man whose body is twisted by cerebral palsy. Pimentel never loses his sardonic sense of humor, but he does find a genuine purpose in life when the U.S. government hires him to create a program to help employers hire the disabled--but his cause leads him away from his increasingly frustrated girlfriend (Melissa George, 30 Days of Night). Music Within proves to be a to be a garrulous, enjoyable warts-and-all biography, one that admires Pimentel's accomplishments but never loses sight of his human failings. No one gets turned into the representative of a suffering group; every character is well-drawn individual. Sharp supporting turns by Hector Elizondo (Pretty Woman), Yul Vazquez (American Gangster), and especially Rebecca De Mornay (Risky Business), as Pimentel's schizophrenic mother, give Music Within added punch. --Bret Fetzer
Music Within Reviews:
Meh 
2009-09-30 - Music Within has some very good points to make and an interesting story to tell. It just fails to do so in a particularly good or interesting manner. First off, Richard Pimentel, did not single handedly bring about the Americans With Disabilities Act, it was a massive group effort. You would never know that from watching this film, which suffers from serious tunnel vision. A big pet peeve with me is musical montages. Used sparingly, they can be an effective way of showing the passage of time, choreographing images which require no dialogue and so forth. When abused, they are nothing less than maddeningly annoying and frustrating. Practically half of this darn movie has music either in lieu of dialogue or blaring over the top of it. Nearly the entire Vietnam War sequence is drowned out with the soundtrack from Forrest Gump. I fast forwarded through a number of sequences and literally didn't miss any story at all. The only really effective scene in the film is when Richard and his wheel chair bound friend with severe Cerebral Palsy are forced to leave a restaurant and arrested for breaking the "ugly law," a law intended to protect "normal" people from being made to feel uncomfortable by the disabled. A horrific little piece of legislature, I think most would agree. Sadly, the film is so low key and emotionally one note that even this infuriating behavior fails to raise ones blood pressure as it might in a better production. Two and a half stars for Music within.
Should be mandatory viewing in all schools 
2009-07-28 - An under-rated beautiful movie about life and overcoming its challenges, as well as overcoming all things ugly and internal which prevent one from hearing their own internal "music." A fabulous soundtrack too...wish it were available!!!
Wonderful movie... 
2009-06-06 - Love this movie, highly recommend it. It will never take over the world, just a good movie, with solid performances.
A MUST SEE
2009-06-01 - One of those jewels that will not be seen enough because of money. Great story, great film, great music.
Good performances by Michael Sheen and Ron Livingston anchor this under-appreciated film
2009-05-07 - This fine film never found an audience. At all. Box Office Mojo reveals it to be an inarguable financial flop: a gross of $154k domestically, $187k worldwide. Ouch. You can help right that injustice by catching it on DVD - it's worth your time, most notably for Michael Sheen's brilliant performance as Art Honeyman, wracked physically by Cerebral Palsy, but brilliant and caustic in mind and spirit. Sheen is almost completely unrecognizable from his better seen appearances in The Queen (as a spot-on Tony Blair) and Frost/Nixon (as David Frost). Put Sheen's work in a better-seen film and it's surefire Oscar bait. Seeing the real Art Honeyman in the DVD extras only reinforces Sheen's performance. He is Honeyman. It's remarkable.
As for the real-life Richard Pimentel, well, let's just say that getting Ron Livingston to play you is a good deal. Livingston is among the most likable actors working today. He'll always be Peter Gibbons to some of us (Office Space - Special Edition with Flair (Widescreen Edition)), and Jack Berger (Sex and the City) to others, but the core of Livingston's charm is his everyman likability. Here, it's what makes you root for Pimentel, a guy who played a pivotal role in helping shape the American with Disabilities Act.
