Ray's ticked, Warwick's happy, and I'm OK

Rating: 7/10 (5 August 2005)

Let me just star by saying I know next to zip about Ray Charles. I know he was blind and that he sang, "Hit the Road Jack" and that's it.
Now, seeing how this film was made shortly after his death you would expect a movie that was in honor of him, where this one is more of a slap to the face. If Ray was still alive I'm 100% sure this film would make his blood boil. Maybe this is why I didn't really enjoy this film. It was attacking a character that I knew next to nothing about and it was trying to make me hate him, and I kind of got the idea that it was lying to pull it off.
Movie Ray(played very well by Jamie Foxx) is getting big into the music game. Because of his brothers death and him going blind he has become very bitter and rude. He mistreats everyone he comes in contact with. He cheats on his wife, he cheats on the girl he's cheating on his wife with. He does drugs. He's short tempered. He thinks everyones out to get him. Etc, etc. Just imagine evil incarnate and you get movie Ray. Now, we all have a dark past, but I know real Ray stopped doing drugs and I'm not about to judge him because of some fictional character that has the same name. This film takes Ray's dark past and multiplies it by ten and then goes on, and on about.
Of course, this is one of those stories where the bad guy goes good at the end, but there's no enthuses on it. He just suddenly becomes good and then the movie just ends. The worst thing about it is the only reason he becomes good is because the cops crack down on him. That's not very respectable at all. Well anyways, the movie ends before you can see him do any real good deeds. It just says that he gave to some charities and then it's all over. None of that sticks with you because it's so short. Only the bad stuff sticks with you. This is why Ray is so angry right now. This film only shows off the bad and none of the good.
Then it takes a really low blow. It even calls Ray a hack.
Movie Ray, "I don't make up my own music. I listen to other people's music and then copycat it." Okay, that's just low. Taylor Hackford, you have no evidence to back up this claim and you're fighting a man that is dead and can't fight back. That's just low. If anyone called me a hack, I'd be ticked. Even though I know next to nothing about Ray Charles I can safely say he was not a hack.
So, movie Ray is one of the most unlikable characters you will ever see. This film is painfully well acted and directed, but evil movie Ray makes it very hard to enjoy. Like, you can like a bad guy, but he needs something like personality going for him. He needs to be likable when you hear him speak, despite the bad things that he's doing. These guys should have seen Clock Work Orange and took down notes.
So, this film has a lot going for it. It's well acted, well made, it's got "Hit the Road Jack" in it, Warwick Davis stops by(Willow. Man, he's something else. You got to love that guy.), but Ray is just so gosh darn evil and you know he'll be good by the end but there's so little put into his transformation that it's kind of not worth it.
7 out of 10. And Taylor Hackford leave Ray alone for God's sake. You could have made the film about his long struggle to quit drugs and become a better person, but instead you just made him look like a jerk. Well Taylor I just want to remind you that I'm only giving you a 7 because it was very well done, but all in all I'm going to be very wary when I grab one of your films. You're walking on thin ice. Attacking a dead man and the hero of a generation. That's just low man.