Movie review: 'Music Within'

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2 1/2 stars (out of four)

How are message movies problematic? Let me count the ways, and in doing so illustrate some of what plagues “Music Within,” a well-intentioned biopic about disability crusader Richard Pimentel that starts strong but eventually collapses under its weighty sense of responsibility.

Problem number one: Movies made to teach audiences Valuable Life Lessons, like this one, need to figure out ways of doing so without devolving into a stream of After-School Special-style platitudes. Like this one. It’s a shame, really, as “Music” begins quite promisingly, with Ron Livingston (as Pimentel) providing the hilariously wry voiceover to scenes of his character’s completely dysfunctional childhood, which would not be out of place in the works of Woody Allen or Neil Simon. (“I was born with my umbilical cord wrapped around my neck,” Livingston intones. “And I’ve been [ticked] off ever since.”) In fact, the first 30 minutes of this movie are among the most intelligent and clear-eyed we’ve seen this year. Unfortunately, once Pimentel comes back from Vietnam rendered deaf, due to a close-range explosion, the wit runs dry and the emoting begins.

Problem two: These movies can be boring work for actors, which translates into boring viewing for audiences. I may be alone in this opinion, but to my mind, Ron Livingston is criminally underused; his performance in “Band of Brothers,” for example, was a study in tragic restraint. And he does a great job here, infusing what could be a cardboard cutout of a character with a sardonic, sly wit. But even Livingston and a solid supporting cast, including a stellar turn by Michael Sheen as his best friend, Art, can’t keep this story from sputtering out. As Pimentel zeroes in on his life’s work (matching disabled veterans with jobs, and later, spearheading the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act) and wrestles with his past, the tone shifts from bracing ironic detachment to earnest outrage. Understandable—but frustrating nonetheless.

And finally, problem three, which happens to be very specific to this production: When shooting a message movie, you cannot, after 30 or 40 minutes of black humor, suddenly commit to a serious tone and then introduce Leslie Nielsen as a brisk, businesslike doctor. It’s just too confusing. Seriously.

jreaves@tribune.com

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