Music Within: Critic Reviews

The real world needs more dogged folks willing to tilt at windmills. But movies often don't do their stories justice, and that has happened again here.

Music Within, which tries to use a lighthearted tone and ironic narration to belie its deeper implications, never gives Livingston strong enough material to make more affecting use of his presence.

It's everything it ought to be: right-minded, well-intentioned, compassionate. But it doesn't rise above made-for-cable public service announcement, either.

Sheen, like the movie itself, is trying too hard to inspire when the story doesn't need the help.

A fascinating story of compassion, grit and determination.

What bothers me is that Music Within takes an individual story, an inspiring one, yes, and then thinks that's all there is to be told.

A well-intentioned biopic about disability crusader Richard Pimentel that starts strong but eventually collapses under its weighty sense of responsibility.

This offbeat biopic is driven by Ron Livingston's engaging performance as Richard Pimentel, a gifted public speaker who lost his hearing in the Vietnam war and then spearheaded the disability rights movement in the U.S.

This is a nice little well-meaning idea for a movie, but even with three writers on the payroll, it never really catches fire.

Music Within convincingly delivers the message that disabilities are everyone's concern.

Music Within never establishes a consistent tone, going from achingly sincere to borderline farcical, often in the same scene.

Pimentel's persistence and eventual triumph over prejudice and discrimination is a story worth telling, if only on a shoestring.

[The filmmakers] make the common error of attempting to cover every seemingly significant moment in the man's life rather than focusing on the greatest conflicts.

Low on drama, but funny, with interesting characters, good performances and is uplifting without being too sweet.

It's just too bad that the pious treatment given the deserving Pimentel never translated into a more engaging film.

With period songs galore to tell you exactly what's going on inside protagonist Richard Pimentel (Ron Livingston), you hardly need plot or dialogue.

Salawich's film is entertaining and leaves you with warm feelings from learning about this man who turned adversity into good for so many others.

...an agreeable though entirely uneven piece of work...

It gives me no pleasure to report that the [Richard] Pimentel biopic Music Within plays like a well-intentioned TV movie.

If you're looking for one-dimensional, uplifting pap, Music Within fits the bill. It's watchable. Pimentel is obviously a really interesting guy, and it's a shame his tale wasn't told with a bit more flair.

When the subject is not well-known, and the film about his life is unremarkable, the whole thing starts to feel like an exercise in futility.

Both Pimental and the audience would have been better served if his life were told as a PBS documentary.

The low-budget Music Within may not entirely work on the outside, but at its core beats a very funny, very smart and very moving heart of gold.

I wanted to like this film