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Ray

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 40 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 47 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama | Musical
Written by:
James L. White (also story)
Taylor Hackford (story)
Directed by: Taylor Hackford
Release Date:
Theatrical: October 29, 2004
DVD: February 1, 2005
Running Time: 152 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for depiction of drug addiction, sexuality and some thematic elements
Starring Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington, Regina King, Clifton Powell, Harry J. Lennix, Bokeem Woodbine, Aunjanue Ellis, and Sharon Warren
Ray is the never-before-told, musical biographical drama of American legend Ray Charles. Featuring Jamie Foxx in the central role, Ray follows the inspiring story of a one-of-a-kind genius. (Universal)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Against All Odds An Officer and a Gentleman Devil's Advocate Dolores Claiborne Proof of Life White Nights
MUSIC: Jamie Foxx: Unpredictable
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
A fit tribute to an entertainer who, no matter what hate or hardship threw in his way or how many mistakes he made, we can't stop loving.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The movie would be worth seeing simply for the sound of the music and the sight of Jamie Foxx performing it. That it looks deeper and gives us a sense of the man himself is what makes it special.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Charles Taylor
What Ray does right, combined with its generosity of spirit, makes it the most satisfying American movie of the year.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
As a musical biography, Ray is driven by the primal excitement of rock-and-soul at the moment of its discovery.
Read Full Review >Time Richard Corliss
If there were an Oscar for ensemble acting, Ray would win in a stroll.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
At the center of it all is an incomparable singer brought to life by a sensational actor. With a huge soul to fill, Jamie Foxx has filled it to overflowing.
New York Post Lou Lumenick
Contains large helpings of Hollywood schmaltz, stereotype and clich, but it's also pretty impossible to resist.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
Every once in a while, a performance pops out of a Hollywood movie that is so brilliant and unique to the matching of actor to role that it's impossible to imagine anyone else achieving it.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Jamie Foxx gets so far inside the man and his music that he and Ray Charles seem to breathe as one.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Brilliantly embodied by Jamie Foxx in this unflinching, entertaining biography.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
A frequently transporting depiction of the early and middle life of Ray Charles, the film soars on remarkable performances, a convincing sense of time and place, and, of course, the glorious music for which Charles was rightly billed as The Genius.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
There may not be a bigger-hearted performance this year than Jamie Foxx's in Ray.
Read Full Review >Variety Todd McCarthy
Bursting at the seams with music, Taylor Hackford's ambitious film provides a good sense of the pioneering entertainer's extraordinary journey and brings it to life with plenty of colorful detail.
Read Full Review >Empire Angie Errigo
Falling on the meaty, potential role of a lifetime like a ravenous lion, erstwhile comedian Jamie Foxx, so good in "Collateral," is just wonderful as the eponymous star.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
It's conventional in approach and sometimes sentimental, even corny, in its content. But there were so many fascinating overtones in Mr. Charles's life and career that any account of them is bound to be riveting at least part of the time.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
If Ray fails to present a genuine portrait of a complex man's essence, it does leave you with an even greater sense of awe for Charles' accomplishments, both in his personal and public lives.
Read Full Review >Premiere Peter Debruge
Delivers platinum performances, especially Sharon Warren as Ray's tough-lovin' mother, Kerry Washington as his lily-tempered wife, and Regina King as his spitfire mistress.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Foxx's complex performance and the filmmaker's willingness to look at the dark side place Ray safely out of the realm of typical Hollywood hagiography.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Ray may be too by the numbers, but with Jamie Foxx out front, this is one film that knows how to make it all add up.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Dana Stevens
While not a great movie, is a very good movie about greatness, in which celebrating the achievement of one major artist becomes the occasion for the emergence of another.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Teresa Wiltz
It is to the film's credit -- and Foxx's -- that we are able to see, behind the flash and fury, a man who didn't know how to love, and was so much the lonelier for it.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
No matter the movie's pitfalls, Ray, we can't stop loving you.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
He (Ray) was, a more complicated man than this film, or perhaps any film, dares allow. Foxx is not at fault here.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
It's a shame his (Foxx) performance isn't surrounded by a better film.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
Ray rambles on for two hours and 40 minutes, mining repetitive episodes like a TV miniseries.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
It's a shame about Ray, because Foxx is trapped in a movie that takes the music icon's unique story and turns it into cheesy, sentimental American Dream cliches.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
Unlike his songs, the film holds something back. It goes deep into a life filled with as much trouble and pain as triumph and accomplishment but never quite gets at the root of who Ray is.
Read Full Review >Newsweek David Ansen
It's hobbled by the too-familiar conventions of the musical biopic: with so many chapters of Charles's life to cover, Hackford's movie never finds a rhythm, a groove, to settle into. It wins its battles without winning the war.
New York Magazine Ken Tucker
Sure, its the Jamie Foxx breakout role. But the movie around it is so systematically inspirational that it comes perilously close to sabotaging the breakout.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Rick Kisonak
The heart of Ray, of course, is the music and, whatever other shortcomings the film may have, it does not fall short as a showcase for the artist's greatest hits.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
Differs from other authorized Hollywood musical biopics in one striking detail: its subject, still alive when most of this was made, is almost never shown as a likable person.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Sluggish, conventional, and almost completely lacking in energy.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Michael Atkinson
Hackford's movie falls into a meandering saunter. As the music grows dull, so does the movie.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
As Ray nears its abrupt ending, it veers into camp silliness, complete with a psychedelic freak-out withdrawal sequence straight out of a Roger Corman LSD epic.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky
Were it not for the performance of Foxx, the movie, which touches every base and slows to a crawl near home plate, would sink even when the score soars.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Kim Morgan
For too many minutes of its two and a half hours, Ray flips through its cinematic pages with a breathless and-then-this-happened urgency, offering up little in the way of personality (or truth) beyond Jamie Foxx's strong performance.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.8 (out of 10) based on 47 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
casey k. gave it a10:
It was the best movie ever! i loved it because i cried and smiled! ray charles is a strong man!
Nick H gave it a6:
Jamie Foxx may give a wonderful performance as Ray, but the movie on a whole isn't all that good. Outside of the character Ray, most of the dialouge is akwardly written. Regina King is the only one in the supporting cast who takes the script by the horns and really shines. Hackford, while a decent director, didn't seem ready to go out and make this movie - the whole film has a sort of "made for TV" look about it. Sometimes I wonder that if Ray Charles hadn't died, would this movie have been so "amazing" to so many people? I doubt it, but Foxx and King would have still gotten the credit they deserved.
Chuck M. gave it an8:
Best musical performance by an actor that I've ever seen - Jamie Foxx does a great job of convincing me (a professional musician) that he was Ray Charles & could play the piano. I liked the movie, but was not incredibly simpathetic for a drug-using adulterer.
BruiNation gave it a10:
The character of a trully great film is not how perfectly well it is produced, written, or directed, but how well it inspires you afterward. Ask yourself this...do you want to know more about Ray Charles, having seen this movie? Did you feel sorry for him, or did he make you angry? Either way, you must agree, he was a fantastic entertainer, his story needed to be told...if nothing more than to help understand what trully drives a man to genius. This is the Best Film of the Year. Period. Way more inspiring than Million Dollar Baby. Jamie Foxx makes this movie possible. No question. See it, if nothing more than to capture a glimpse into the life of a man worthy of his fame, despite the realities of his persona.
Peter J. gave it a9:
Excellent movie. Jamie Foxx was sensational. I am not really into Ray's music all that much, but his "story" is what makes this movie. He overcame 3 tragedies at a young age, watching his young brother drown, going blind, and losing his mother. That, along with growing up in poverty, makes his success story even better. It is sad, however, that Ray got addicted to drugs and could not stop womanizing. Great movie.
y. chavez gave it a7:
It was a really good movie and it stole my heart. it is deprssing to see a talented young, disabled man fall due to drugs but i was very happy at the end when he finally changed even if it was hard for him.
Charlie P gave it a6:
The musical numbers are great, Jamie Foxx does a great job, but the script just stinks. In an effort to cover an entire life's ups and downs in just 2 hours, every big event is compressed into such a tiny bit of dialogue that the whole things gets melodramatic and campy. By all means, go for the music, but don't expect anything more than that.
