Ray (2004) Movie Review, Cast & Crew, Film Summary

Initially flavorsome and lovingly shot, this one wound up making me wish it would hurry up and end, and when it did end, it did it so suddenly and perfunctorily I wondered why I just sat through it. Yeah, Jamie Foxx is great, and he and the other actors enact their parts so confidently you don’t notice for a little while what an mouldy line of bio-pic shuck you’re being handed. Ray’s meeting with “Hi I’m Quincy Jones” is so corny it’s like Batman meeting Robin. To the RayCave, QJ, we gots music to make! Charles’ life has scarcely been shaped into a dramatic form, and the film begins to ring hollower than Charles’ appearance on Who’s The Boss? Which is a pity, because it is initially quite absorbing in portraying the black hipster scene of the late ’40s. Foxx brings conviction to his performance. The scene where he first declares interest in mainlining is striking in his portrait of a fearless desire for emotional anaesthetic.