Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here.

I just like the idea of Ron Livingston as a lead of any film that's actually coming out in theaters, albeit on a slightly limited basis. The guy made such an impression on people in OFFICE SPACE, and has since had some supporting work and a bunch of TV appearances (most notably an extended run on "Sex in the City" and his own canceled series "Standoff"). I think his best work was probably as Capt. Nixon on HBO's "Band of Brothers" and the recent episode of TNT's "Nightmares and Dreamscapes" he did with Henry Thomas. But I've never thought the guy has gotten a fair shake as an actor, despite the fact that he's been working steadily and pops up in the most interesting places.

But MUSIC WITHIN is the kind of thing I want to see him doing more of. Bordering on a disease-of-the-weak/biopic/made-for-TV combo (but with way more bad language), the film tells the true-life story of Richard Pimentel (Livingston), a Vietnam vet who came home with major hearing loss and turned his plight (and those of other disabled persons) and his oratory skills into a years-long struggle to get the Americans With Disabilities Act made into law. Along his journey, he meets Art Honneyman (the remarkable Michael Sheen), a man with severe cerebral palsy who still manages to get off some truly sharp and often crude zingers when people treat him like a freak. The pair essentially barrel through their lives together, determined above all to make sure that every disabled person gets a fair shake at getting around and getting employed.

There's something irreverent and rebellious about MUSIC WITHIN, a kind of spirit that almost dares you not to like its characters. They certainly don't see themselves as heroes, so why should you? Melissa George passes in and out of Richard's life beginning with a love affair in college to well into his lobbying days, but the film's love story isn't nearly as interesting as the relationship between Richard and Art. Fortunately first-time feature director Steven Sawalich knows this, and splits the film's story primarily between the friendship between the two men and Richard's work on behalf of veterans and later the disabled. I know on the surface, this film seems like it has the potential to be infernally sappy, but the execution is much smarter than that. Both men are angry and damaged people who do this work to keep from exploding. The film doesn't exactly reinvent the wheel, but it does dress it up in ways we're not quite used to seeing. Dare I say, it may even qualify as edgy. More importantly, I hope that MUSIC WITHIN gets Livingston and Sheen as much attention as they deserve. They both deliver two memorable performances here that deserve attention even if the rest of the film drifts from your memory, which I'm hoping it won't.

Capone