Michael Sheen: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

And 5 That Sucked...

5. Art Honeyman - Music Within (2007)

At some point word of Michael Sheen's aptitude for both stage and screen acting got to Hollywood, and two things happened: first, directors of some repute began casting him in their work, as was the case with his role in Woody Allen's Midnight In Paris. Second, a load of hack producers started dropping him into middle-of-the-road fare, hoping he would elevate it. In many cases, just having a performer of Sheen's talents and magnetism does help raise the overall quality of a piece. But he can't polish a turd. He could probably play a convincing turd, given enough lead-in time and research to work from, but there's only so much a performer can do with a bad script. Music Within should have been a home run, another brilliant true-life-story. Ron Livingston starred as Richard Pimentel, who lost most of his hearing and was left with permanent tinnitus after fighting in Vietnam - which made achieving his dream of becoming a renowned public speaker somewhat difficult. Sheen has a supporting role as his foul-mouthed friend Art, a half-baked cookie-cutter part that involves a slightly offensive approximation of cerebral palsy symptoms to boot.