"Music Within" tells the true story of Richard Pimentel, a disabled Vietnam War veteran who was instrumental in getting the Americans with Disabilities Act made into the law of the land.

How exactly he did that remains something of a mystery, though, because this movie is very much about Richard Pimentel - his odd childhood, his failed relationship with the woman he loved, his nice-for-Richard realization that all activism and no deep interpersonal commitment made him a not entirely great guy. But it's rather sketchy on the nuts and bolts of pushing landmark civil liberties legislation through government bureaucracies.

Although I'm theoretically all for biofilms that dig deep into the individual rather than just parade his public accomplishments before us, this one has the feel of a vanity project.

Self-amused voice-over narration from Pimentel player Ron Livingston doesn't mitigate that effect (and by some logic, it should). He glibly recounts how his multiple-miscarriage-maddened mom (Rebecca De Mornay) couldn't decide whether to keep him or farm him out to orphanages as a child, and how his Chinese father met an odd death (even odder; Pimentel's Asian heritage is never addressed in the movie again). As he grows up, Richard becomes a good orator, but a gruff dismissal by a UC professor (Hector Elizondo), who is later revealed to be working under a handicap of his own, so rattles Pimentel that he enlists in the Army.

He returns from Vietnam with most of his hearing lost, only to be met by academic and working worlds that consider him unsuitable. About this time, Pimentel bonds with cerebral palsy-stricken Art Honneyman, whose foulmouthed chattering only Richard - again, oddly, and not entirely convincingly - can understand.

Art's played by Michael Sheen, who so effectively embodied Tony Blair last year in "The Queen.." What to say about this performance?

Yes, Sheen made me believe Art was a smart guy with a terrible condition. But it really is hard to judge where a portrayal such as this crosses the line from fearlessly authentic to questionably showboaty. It felt like Sheen did go over it at some point to me, but considering his impressive track record, I'd be more than happy to admit I'm wrong about that.

Richard also hooks up with free-spirited hippie chick Christine (Melissa George), who becomes a more traditional, possessive type as the years roll on and Richard learns to yoke his debating skills to the ever-consuming cause of disabled rights.

Of course, you can't blame Christine for just wanting a little quality time with her man. It was all really his fault, the movie is happy to say. As he moved from a vets job placement office to the California Governors Committee for People with Disabilities to power corridors in Washington and the lucrative inspirational speaking circuit, Pimentel will probably be the first to admit that he became a swell-headed ass - the better for him to go through suicide-contemplating self-examination, and come out a wiser, superior person for it.

Director Steven Sawalich has raised some $20 million for the Starkey Hearing Foundation by producing star-studded awards galas. He's directed his first film with an obligatory '60s hits soundtrack, evident compassion, not a lot of pizazz and surprisingly little detail about the kind of committed, charitable work that is clearly a big part of his life. I know that the nuts and bolts of political wrangling and helping the handicapped aren't the most sizzling cinematic subjects. But presented right and with real passion, they'd probably be a lot more interesting than the music within himself that Pimentel understandably finds fascinating, but few others necessarily will.

MUSIC WITHIN 

>R: sex, language, violence, drug use.
>Starring: Ron Livingston, Michael Sheen, Melissa George.
>Director: Steven Sawalich.
>Running time: 1 hr. 33 min.
>Playing: Playhouse 7, Pasadena; Chinese 6, Hollywood; Century 15, Century City.
>In a nutshell: Story of disabled rights activist Richard Pimentel is too much about Pimentel, too little about what he accomplished.