Subpar movie with good (but not outstanding) work by Jamie Foxx

Rating: 4/10 (5 March 2005)

I would expect that a Best Picture would at least be tolerable and finishable. RAY was neither.
I am not going to completely blast this movie. I certainly acknowledge that Jamie Foxx played the part well, but let's face it: This part was not really that difficult to pull off. All he had to do was close his eyes, smile, and shake around like a cokehead.
One thing that irked me about the movie was that I never found myself caring about the character himself, Ray. In fact I never cared about any of the other characters, his wife, his manager, any of them. On top of that, they were all mediocre actors (cmon, Revenge of the Nerd's Booger as his Atlantic rep?!). Also, I could have done without the extensive flashbacks throughout the movie.
The story basically meanders somewhat chronologically. It is not too episodic, which is good, but it never really hooks you. I really had to force myself to pay attention and eventually turned it off after about an hour. Most of that goes back to how little I cared about the characters.
Face it, this movie would have never been nominated for best picture, Jamie Foxx wouldn't have won best actor, and Ray Charles wouldn't have won so many Grammys for his terrible album if the man didn't die this year. All respect for the dead, but this man is receiving far too much credit at this point.