Most critics like Ray, and nearly all of them like it for the same reason. Jamie Foxx’s performance as Ray Charles is praised in almost every review, for the gait and the mannerisms and for going beyond impersonation into something that suggests the man’s appetites and drive. The music comes second: reviewers credit Taylor Hackford with putting the songs at the centre of the film and letting them carry it, and several note the period detail and production design with approval.
The reservations are about everything around the performance. The structure is called conventional, by-the-numbers and in places overlong; a few critics feel the film softens Charles’s flaws or never gets far inside his head. The spread is narrow, with most reviews landing in a warm middle band. The one outright dissent comes from Slant Magazine, which finds the film hokey and the central performance surface mimicry, an argument no other review makes.
R
RogerEbert.com
28 October 2004 · ★★★★/4 · Roger Ebert
100
The critic praises Jamie Foxx's exuberant, physically precise performance as Ray Charles and the film's focus on the music and the man's complexities. It highlights how the biopic captures Charles's artistic genius and personal struggles without oversimplifying.
Jamie Foxx delivers an outstanding impersonation of Ray Charles in this gripping musical drama that covers his life from childhood blindness and guilt through addiction and numerous affairs to success. Taylor Hackford’s excellent film features peerless music and benefits from Charles’ own involvement.
The review calls the film a satisfying biopic that succeeds in portraying Ray Charles through his music and Foxx's intelligent performance, despite some conventional biopic elements and occasional sentimentality. It singles out the way the story emphasizes the art itself over facile psychology.
The critic describes the film as gripping with magnificent period detail and hair-raising musical moments, praising Foxx's pitch-perfect portrayal of the complex, self-interested musician. It notes the conventional biopic structure but finds the performance compelling despite some soft-soaping of flaws.
The review describes the film as a proudly conventional but wholly entertaining biopic powered by irresistible music and Foxx's dominating, charismatic performance as the blind singer. It singles out how Hackford's conviction in the well-worn biopic conventions makes the story work despite being by-the-numbers.
A solid, diligent biopic with Hackford putting the music front and centre; it captures admirable and unsympathetic aspects of Charles but feels a little slick and methodical. Reservations melt away in the face of Jamie Foxx’s remarkable, scene-stealing performance that goes beyond impersonation.
The biopic aligns itself with films about black cultural icons and relies heavily on Jamie Foxx's superb, naturalistic performance as Ray Charles to elevate it above the familiar format. Hackford lets the story tell itself amid biopic clichés, with the music providing straightforward pleasure.
The film succeeds more often than not in capturing Ray Charles's career arc thanks to Jamie Foxx's kinetic and charismatic performance as the musician. It dramatizes his musical influences and shifts effectively but never fully penetrates the character's inner life or motivations.
The critic finds the film vibrantly intelligent and tough-minded, commending its detailed depiction of a musician's life on the road and Foxx's revelatory performance that captures Charles's strength, talent, and demonic energy. It notes the movie refuses to get overly chummy and allows the subject dark corners.
The critic praises the film's electrifying musical sequences and Jamie Foxx's uncanny, charismatic performance as Ray Charles. Hackford's biopic is seen as doing fine justice to Charles' musical legend despite an ambitious but exhausting structure.
The critic praises the film's genial momentum and Jamie Foxx's virtuoso performance as Ray Charles, highlighting his physical mannerisms and the movie's unpretentious celebration of the musician's rise. They note it avoids deeper darkness but remains engaging and a strong platform for the lead actor.
The review highlights Jamie Foxx's astonishing, Oscar-worthy performance that captures Ray Charles's gait, mannerisms and presence, crediting the director for prioritizing musical sequences. It calls the film decent and pleasurable but singles out the lead as truly great.
An entertaining if slightly overlong biopic that is a middlebrow but honourable affair, keen to highlight Charles' background and guilt while ending the story in 1966. Fine cinematography, evocative production design and superb performances, topped by Jamie Foxx, more than compensate.
12 September 2004 · festival review · Todd McCarthy
70*
The critic calls it a rangy, straightforward and engrossing biopic anchored by Jamie Foxx's uncannily fine performance, noting the terrific soundtrack and colorful detail of Charles's journey. It observes that while the even-keeled style lacks intense drama, it is one of Hackford's best works.
The critic notes that the film pays proper tribute to Ray Charles with an uncanny Jamie Foxx performance and great songs, but feels it lacks urgency and fails to transcend the biopic genre as a fan's film.
Ray leans heavily into hackneyed showbiz and triumph-over-adversity clichés while presenting Charles's life as a series of dramatic highlights. Though shallow as biography, it works as a sensory feast with strong music and Foxx capturing the performer's appetites and humor.
Taylor Hackford's biopic turns Ray Charles's unique life into a false, hokey mishmash of Oscar-season conventions and biopic bunk. The film is stilted and disingenuous, with a gimmicky central performance that offers little insight beyond surface mimicry.
The critic praises the film as a must-see exceptional movie thanks to its well-crafted structure and toe-tapping soundtrack. Jamie Foxx's uncanny, breath-taking performance as Ray Charles is singled out as the standout element worthy of an Oscar.
The critic calls it an epic biopic with charm, finesse and very few flaws, praising Jamie Foxx's faultless, monumental performance as Ray Charles and Hackford's stylish, unselfish direction that focuses on the music and renders mid-20th century America beautifully.
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