Best Picture candidate?

Rating: 7/10 (27 June 2005)

This movie is essentially about a music superstar's heroine problem. He is mistreated by others and he mistreats them. He is a womanizer who doesn't really seem to care about anything except his music. These traits are not unique in the music industry. I was tremendously disappointed that very little of the movie focused on what made Ray Charles, Ray Charles. This movie could have been about anyone, not just Ray. Both Jamie Foxx's performance and the soundtrack were phenomenal, but the rest of the movie was uninspired. Only the acting gives this flick a 7. Not a good movie.
There is a fair amount of time spent in flashbacks between Ray and his mother, adequately showing the development of this relationship, but doesn't have resounding thunder in developing who he was as a person. It is nice to know that we get second chances in life, but we don't see Ray getting his in the movie other than a couple of lines at the end.
Maybe I didn't care for the movie because it is a biopic and, personally, I find real life far less interesting than a good imagination. How can you tell someone's life story in 2.5 hours? Is life really that boring?