Review of Music Within (2007) by Linda G — 09 Apr 2008

Quite an amazing and compelling true story, it is just too bad that the film wasn't the same way. Music Within tells the story of Richard Pimentel (Ron Livingston; Office Space) who grew up with an emotionally unstable mother and lost his father in an accident, he turns to public speaking in school to find direction in life and seek the approval and praise he needs.

After receiving insightful advice from a public speaking mentor, Richard enlists in the army and serves in Vietnam. He returns with impaired hearing and finds it difficult to get a job. Through friendships with Art Honeyman(Michael Sheen; The Queen), who has cerebral palsy, and fellow Vietnam vets with various ailments, Richard finds his calling as an employment placement advocate for those with disabilities.

Catching the attention of the state governor, his innovative work leads to a breakthrough opportunity- to write the training program for employers and government agencies to improve conditions, hire, and retain employees with disabilities.

His efforts ultimately result in the creation of the congressionally approved Americans with Disabilities Act. This is film had me yearning to enjoy and appreciate it (and it did to an extent) the only thing that makes me say that this film was not that great was it direction and script.

These two things made the film feel so cookie cutter-ish that there was no sense of real human emotion that you could definitely tell that there should have been. Music Within overall could have been quite a decent film but in it's attempt it falls very short for a true story based film.