forget the acting, this movie was about the music

so he's not a great actor (who cares), Neil Diamond wrote and performed live 10 new songs for this movie so give him some credit. And pretty good songs at that - they soundtrack reached #3 on the pop charts with 3 songs hitting the top10.

Not many soundtracks have that kind of success from original songs (Help!, Grease, Saturday Night Fever, Purple Rain, a few others) and rarely does the movie match the soundtrack.

I wouldn't necessarily cast him in another role without some acting classes, but he's a great songwriter and singer.