Ray (Widescreen Edition)

Jamie Foxx's Academy Award-winning title role performance and the timeless tunes of Ray Charles drive Taylor Hackford's acclaimed biodrama. Overcoming family tragedy and blindness due to glaucoma at the age of seven, singer/pianist Charles blends gospel, R&B, and other genres to create his unique brand of soul music, but drug abuse and womanizing threaten to derail his career and his life. Kerry Washington, Regina King, Harry Lennix also star. Theatrical version; 153 min./Extended version; 178 min. Widescreen (Enhanced); Soundtracks: English Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1; Subtitles: French, Spanish; audio commentary; featurettes; musical performances; theatrical trailer.

Jamie Foxx's uncannily accurate performance isn't the only good thing about Ray. Riding high on a wave of Oscar buzz, Foxx proved himself worthy of all the hype by portraying blind R&B legend Ray Charles in a warts-and-all performance that Charles approved shortly before his death in June 2004. Despite a few dramatic embellishments of actual incidents (such as the suggestion that the accidental drowning of Charles's younger brother caused all the inner demons that Charles would battle into adulthood), the film does a remarkable job of summarizing Charles's strengths as a musical innovator and his weaknesses as a philandering heroin addict who recorded some of his best songs while flying high as a kite. Foxx seems to be channeling Charles himself, and as he did with the life of Ritchie Valens in La Bamba, director Taylor Hackford gets most of the period details absolutely right as he chronicles Ray's rise from "chitlin circuit" performer in the early '50s to his much-deserved elevation to legendary status as one of the all-time great musicians. Foxx expertly lip-syncs to Ray Charles' classic recordings, but you could swear he's the real deal in a film that honors Ray Charles without sanitizing his once-messy life. --Jeff Shannon

More on Ray Charles

Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music (CD)	The Genius of Ray Charles (CD)	Ray Charles and Betty Carter--Dedicated to You (CD)
Genius & Soul--The 50th Anniversary Collection (CD)	Ray: A Tribute to the Movie, the Music, and the Man (book)	More Albums by Ray Charles