How many clichés can you fit into one film?

Rating: Null/10 (2 November 2004)

The answer....apparently 100 million, according to "Ray". Now, yes, this is a good story that needed telling, with a tremendous, Oscar-nom worthy performance to boot, but the story and the direction are mis-led and cluttered. Clichés fly everywhere, from the terrible montages of club names flying by in the foreground as we see Ray performing, to an enormously hokey "revelation" scene where Ray Charles writes "Hit the Road (Jack)" with the assistance of his mistress. It's fake, poorly written, and I'm mostly impressed with Jamie Foxx's acting because he managed to get through that scene without bursting into laughter. This movie is worth seeing, purely because you forget you're watching Jamie Foxx, and think you're watching Ray Charles. Now, this doesn't mean you don't know it's a movie that was written by Hollywood, but the performance is spell-binding enough to make you sit through the near 3 hour run-time, that could have easily been 2. Above all, a recommendation, but make sure to go get your popcorn as soon as you see the mistress "Margie" threaten to walk out on Ray...leave...quickly...