Better than I expected, and that was plenty!

Rating: Null/10 (9 November 2004)

From the first scene, of black fingers on a piano keyboard, from which the camera pulls back to reveal we are looking into the reflection on the dark glasses of Ray Charles, I could tell I was in for a great experience.
I'm sure everyone's comment will be along the lines of: "I forgot I wasn't watching the REAL Ray Charles!"
Not only was it a sure-thing Oscar performance for Jamie Foxx, but I couldn't wait to get home to come into IMDb to look up the other actors, to read about them...mostly little knowns, there wasn't a bad performance from anyone in the cast. The gal playing Ray's mother, was spellbinding...I hope she isn't overlooked when accolades get handed out for the major roles, and the director.
I have never been in a theater before, to have the entire audience CLAP at the end of the movie! (Who were we applauding? The projectionist?) We all waited for the credits to end before getting up, to exit the place, sniffing from the tears jerked out of us with that marvelous ending.
Now we'll all be busy trying to add forgotten Ray Charles songs to our collections.