If it does nothing else, "Music Within" shows us how deeply Ron Livingston's amiable face can take us into a movie. But even likable mugs like his -- remember him in "Office Space"? -- need help from the movies around them.

"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 as Richard Pimentel, a real-life activist who was instrumental in the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Pimentel's political awareness is forged during a tour of duty in Vietnam, where an explosion causes him to suffer tinnitus and lose most of his hearing. Returning all but deaf to the United States, he is soon to become an advocate for disabled veterans.

Unfortunately, in this reverential treatment, Livingston's character is a schematic creation, an American Candide whose indefatigable spirit seems only a minor foible or two short of sainthood. There he is, befriending Art (Michael Sheen), a brilliant man whose severe cerebral palsy makes it difficult for people to look beyond his physical contortions. And there is Pimentel, again, showing the people of the world that the disabled are humans, too.

But even saints have their shadowy sides, and a painful relationship with a mentally ill mother (Rebecca De Mornay) who never approves of him is not enough to give us the three-dimensionality we crave. Nor is his bewilderment at his girlfriend, Christine (Melissa George), who resents how much time he puts into his political life. For the most part, he's essentially climbing steadily toward his ultimate goal, at least the one the movie has in mind for him. That's passage of the Disabilities Act. That political achievement might make us admire him, but it's not enough to earn our love.

-- Desson Thomson (Oct. 26, 2007)

Contains sexual references and drug use.