Jamie Foxx delivers Oscar-worthy performance in 'Ray'

By Jack Garner
Gannett News Service

RAY (PG-13) Four Stars (Excellent) Taylor Hackford's big, bountiful, beautifully mounted biopic about a giant of American music; featuring Jamie Foxx in a revelation of a performance. Universal, 152 minutes.

Born in abject poverty in the segregated South, witness at age 6 to the tragic drowning of his younger brother, blind by age 7, orphaned at 16, a heroin addict for 20 years — those are just some of the obstacles overcome by Charles on the road to international musical stardom.

The late Ray Charles didn't just become a star; he became one of the great originators of 20th century music in a pantheon of influential trendsetters that might include only Louis Armstrong, Hank Williams, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan. As superbly crafted in Hackford's film, Charles' story is riveting and inspiring.

"Ray" has been on Hackford's radar for about 15 years. The director of "Against All Odds" and "The Devil's Advocate," Hackford long has been fascinated by great American music, helmed the "Cinemax Sessions" series on cable in the late '80s and early '90s, explored the teeny-bop era with "The Idolmaker" (1980), and documented Chuck Berry with "Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll" (1987). But a film on Ray Charles was his top priority. Finally, Hackford got it done. The good news is that it took long enough so that Jamie Foxx could appear on the horizon.

Foxx delivers a performance as Charles that is so dead-on, so realistic, he seems to be channeling the performer. It's Charles' voice on the film's many songs, but it's Foxx who brings that voice to life in the performances and who captures all of Charles' quirky mannerisms, speaking voice and movements off stage. (I've been blessed to have spent a little time with Charles on two occasions, you can trust me on this.)

The jaw-dropping performance has vaulted the comedian-turned-dramatic actor to the top of any betting lists for the best actor Oscar. (Ah, what the heck. The rest of the guys shouldn't even bother to mount campaigns for the Academy Award. Foxx is that good.) Hackford and writer James L. White have made all the right choices in telling Charles' story, from the importance of the gritty, early R&B recordings to the warts-and-all coverage of Charles' private life. Charles read the screenplay in Braille before he died.

The bouts with drugs, the rampant philandering on the road — it's all here. So is the breakthrough career moves and musical genius that blended diverse American music styles into a cohesive whole. Hackford also has surrounded the explosive Foxx with an array of award-worthy supporting performances, especially Kerry Washington as Ray's long-suffering wife Della Bea, Regina King as Ray's fireball mistress and back-up singer Margie Hendricks, and Bokeem Woodbine as the colorful saxophonist and dangerous drug compadre, Fathead Newman.

Although "Ray" clocks in at 152 minutes, I wouldn't cut a frame. It's a big, bountiful, beautifully mounted biopic about a giant of American music. Don't miss it.

Rated PG-13, profanity, drug use, innuendo.