Poor man's "Ray"?

Rating: 6/10 (24 June 2006)

Wasn't desperate to see this, but wanted to learn a little bit more about the man Johnny Cash.
What I learnt was that he hard a tough upbringing, got into drugs, had woman problems and built a massively successful music career. Hardly a new story. I'm not saying his story isn't worth telling, but it's hardly a new music story is it? How many of the music legends of the past 50 years didn't have all the same issues, most notably Ray Charles, who's story was brought to the big screen just the year before? Seems like another case of movie execs saying "that Ray movie did really well, let's do one like that! Are there any other famous musos who had drug problems?".
Like "Ray", the highlight of the movie is the rehab stuff, but the rest really wasn't that ground breaking. Phoenix and Witherspoon do good jobs with what they're given, but the story didn't have you on the edge of your seat, plus there wee no great musical moments.
Unless the next big music movie is going to be about the Foo Fighters, Billy Ocean or Dexy's Midnight Runners, lets put this genre back in the guitar case for a few years hey!