Ray

(2004, Taylor Hackford, USA)

rating = 45

Usually, when an Actor plays the part of a real flesh-n-blood human being, no matter how good they are in the role, all we see is so-n-so playing so-n-so.   There have only been a handful of times where the Actor vanishes and all we see on the screen is that flesh-n-blood human being who is being portrayed.   Sissy Spacek wasn't up on that screen in 1980 - Loretta Lynn was.   Ben Kingsley wasn't up on that screen in 1982 - Mohandas K. Gandhi was.   Gary Oldman wasn't up on that screen in 1986 - Sid Vicious was.   Denzel Washington wasn't up on that screen in 1992 - Malcolm X was.   And now, we don't see Jamie Foxx on that screen - we see Ray Charles.   Both physically and emotionally, the usually (but not anymore) underrated Foxx becomes Ray Charles - which is why so many people are buzzing about Foxx's Oscar chances.

Foxx, the best thing to come out of TV's In Living Color (sorry Mr. Carrey), and who brilliantly stole the show from Mr. Showbiz, Tom Cruise, in the mostly riveting Collateral, doesn't just play Ray Charles - he is Ray Charles.

By now you've probably noticed my praising mindset about Mr. Foxx, and I'll keep on praising his performance - mainly for the fact that there is absolutely nothing else (except for the obviously fantastic soundtrack) in this by-the-books pedestrian Bio-Pic.   A building-blocked example of how to construct the perfect pyramid of a successful Hollywood Bio-Pic - lacking any touch of style, individuality or creativity whatsoever.   Especially shameful due to the fact that Ray Charles was one of the most creative, stylistic individuals to ever record music.

Okay, even though the Bio-Pic is one of the most dangerous attempts at filmmaking that a Director can make (how the hell do you squeeze a life into just a few hours), maybe Ray isn't all THAT bad.   Kerry Washington and Regina King as Charles' wife and lover, respectively, play admirably in what are essentially throw-away roles and Taylor Hackford's cinematography and editing style are not without their merits (although far from being an Auteur) - but in the end, all we get is a wonderfully nuanced performance by Jamie Foxx (who is finally getting the respect he deserves) and some great music (which we could've heard more of in the film), but mainly a standard mild Hollywood mass-audience movie.

Unlike those aforementioned Bio-Pics (especially Spike Lee's Malcolm X), Hackford's Ray is merely a limp vehicle for a grandiose gesture in the form of Jamie Foxx's Ray Charles.