Music Within
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Metascore
53 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 18 Critics What's this?

User Score
7.3 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 6 Ratings

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  • Starring: Ron Livingston
  • Summary: Richard Pimentel enlists in the Army for a tour of duty in Vietnam. During combat, the young recruit loses his hearing to a bomb blast, and has to deal with this newfound disability on his return to civilian life in Oregon. Richard discovers that his disability and the struggle to transcend it is a defining moment in his fight for what he believes in. When he tries to help his friends--vets like himself and others with disabilities--to get work in an environment that treats them with pity at best and disdain as a matter of course, he realizes that he can make a difference. Together, the friends experience the currents of those turbulent times, and the wild, joyful energy of winning through confrontation and humor. Without his hearing Richard is all the more prepared to listen to the message deep within himself, and to carry that message to the thousands of people whose lives are improved by the movement he helps organize. (MGM)… Expand
  • Director: Steven Sawalich
  • Genre(s): Biography, Drama, Comedy, Romance, War, Music
  • Rating: R
  • Runtime: 94 min
  • More Details and Credits »

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 18
  3. Negative: 0 out of 18
  1. Variety
    Reviewed by: John Anderson
    70
    Helmed by Steve Sawalich, this real-life dramedy is anchored by Michael Sheen’s captivating performance as the severely handicapped, profoundly acerbic Art Honeyman.
  2. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Kirk Honeycutt
    70
    Livingston and director Steven Sawalich keep the character in constant motion, his dialogue sprinkled with humor and his energy contagious. The film also is surrounded by a crew of ferociously individualistic characters.
  3. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Andrea Gronvall
    70
    Steven Sawalich directed with invention and heart.
  4. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Robert Wilonsky
    60
    Sheen, like the movie itself, is trying too hard to inspire when the story doesn't need the help.

See all 18 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 4
  3. Negative: 0 out of 4
  1. LauraL.
    10
    I love this film!! My friends loved it too! It is a movie with heart and honesty! Thank you!
  2. MortenF.
    6
    Another movie u see and then say ok, nothing special okies movie.
  3. ChadS.
    5
    Next to a guy with cerebral palsy, being deaf looks like a picnic. What if Art(Michael Sheen) met Ron Livingston(Richard Pimentel) instead of the other way around? With Art, front and center, "Music Within" would find something more pressing to dramatize than Richard's problems with women. Richard explains to Christine(Melissa George), in so many words, that his activist work is so much bigger than her protestations of feeling neglected. She's no Betty Shabazz, this one. By showing us how Richard Pimentel's fight for the rights of disabled Americans took a toll on his personal life, the filmmaker makes the same mistake as Christine. A wheelchair ramp, and getting a fair shake for jobs, just might be on the same level as women and blacks having the right to vote, so it just might be a little ungracious of "Music Within" to show how Richard suffered for the "little people"(not dwarfs, but people who have(had) no voice). A deaf person can read lips. You can't hide cerebral palsy. To see the trials and tribulations of a man like Art would really drive home the importance of the American Disabilities Act.… Expand
  4. JayH.
    4
    I was not at all convinced by this movie, it all seemed very phony and so trite. The period detail is atrocious. You can't just throw in a 60's and 70's soundtrack. The characters never aged, just their hairstyles changed. The actors try, but it's hopeless with the script. Sloppily made, not enough thought was put into it and it has many loose ends, plot holes and guffaws.… Expand

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