Ray
Directed by: Taylor Hackford
Written by: James L. White
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington, Regina King, Clifton Powell, Harry Lennix, Terrence Howard, Larenz Tate
Release Date: October 29, 2004
For Music Biopic Week at Reelscope, we revisit Ray (2004), the soulful portrait of Ray Charles that earned Jamie Foxx an Oscar. Despite Taylor Hackford’s uneven direction, Foxx delivers one of the century’s greatest performances in a film alive with music, pain, and genius.
The Bridge Between Musical Eras
There’s a strange kind of symmetry to this week’s Reelscope lineup. We’ve moved from Rocketman’s flamboyant musical energy into the soulful rhythm of Ray, the biopic that kicked off a wave of music-driven dramas in the 2000s. As we head toward Friday’s look at Springsteen Deliver Us From Nowhere, it’s worth noting how these seemingly disconnected musical worlds — Ray Charles, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John— once coexisted in the same sprawling pop-cultural landscape.
While Ray, the movie story, ends before Bruce Springsteen ever takes the stage, the legacy of Ray Charles casts a long shadow. By the time Springsteen began to take hold culturally, Ray had already conquered blindness, racism, and was fighting his way back from addiction to become one of the world’s defining voices.
A Life Told in Flashback and Rhythm
Ray unfolds in a loosely linear rhythm, intercut with hazy, sepia-toned flashbacks to Ray’s painful childhood in Depression-era Florida. The adult Ray (Jamie Foxx) hustles his way onto a Seattle-bound bus, chasing gigs and independence with little more than a suitcase and boundless charm.
The structure occasionally falters, juggling timelines that threaten to derail the film’s momentum. But every time the story loses its groove, Foxx pulls it back in key. His performance, paired with Ray Charles’ immortal catalog, keeps the movie alive even when the editing stumbles.
Inside the Studio: Capturing the Genius
The film’s most electrifying scenes take place in the recording studio, where history is being made in real time. Curtis Armstrong’s Ahmet Ertegun and Richard Schiff’s Jerry Wexler watch, awestruck, as Ray nails classics in a single take. These sequences have a pulse of creation so vivid you can almost feel the tape spinning.
Even if you don’t love Ray’s blend of gospel, jazz, and pop, you recognize you’re witnessing something foundational — the sound of modern music taking shape.
Jamie Foxx: More Than an Impression
It’s easy to underestimate what Foxx does here. Yes, he nails Ray’s speech, gestures, and stage presence — but that’s not mimicry; that’s embodiment. Beneath the mannerisms, Foxx finds the contradictions: the impish grin, the calculating addict, the cruel husband, the paranoid businessman. He gives us the Ray Charles who could be both a genius and a tyrant, sometimes in the same breath.
His chemistry with Kerry Washington’s Della Bea Robinson gives the film a heartbreaking emotional center. Even when Hackford’s flashbacks dip into dime-store psychology, Foxx refuses to let Ray become a cliché. He finds something wounded yet indestructible in the man — a rare vulnerability wrapped in rhythm.
Where the Film Stumbles
Taylor Hackford’s direction too often meanders. The pacing drags; the flashbacks intrude. His fascination with Ray’s wealth — houses, cars, furniture — adds little insight. More frustrating is how the women in Ray’s life are flattened into archetypes. Kerry Washington and Regina King deliver soulful performances, but the script gives them little space to grow beyond “long-suffering wife” and “neglected mistress.”
Foxx seems to understand the emotional truth these women bring, even when the camera doesn’t. It’s a testament to his empathy that Ray remains so deeply human despite its uneven storytelling.
A Masterpiece of Performance
In the end, Ray works not because of Taylor Hackford’s direction but in spite of it. Jamie Foxx’s performance is so alive, so charged with energy and intuition, that it transcends the limits of the film around him. He doesn’t just play Ray Charles — he channels him.
It took an extraordinary performance to capture an extraordinary man, and Foxx delivers that and more. Whatever flaws Ray has as a biopic, it stands as a triumph of acting, music, and soul.
Final Verdict
3.5 out of 5 — A flawed but essential music biopic, powered by one of the best performances of the century.
