Ray (2004)
Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington, Regina King, Clifton Powell
I remember meeting Ray Charles once. I was working in Roswell, GA, at a festival put on by the city that coincided with the Olympics in 1996. I was basically working for a Coors distributor selling beer during the festival. Great job for a kid fresh out of high school. They held concerts each evening of the festival and I happened to be working the bar by the stage the night that Ray Charles played. I was able to slip back stage as he was finishing his set and talk to him for a minute. He was a little short with me but over all not a bad guy. So that’s how I always picture Ray. As a sweet old man who happened to be a bit grumpy when I met him.
Then I watched this movie.
Image destroyed.
Turns out, Ray was a heroine addict who slept with everything that moved while he was touring (even while he was married to a lady who bore his children). He even had a kid out of wedlock and was pretty much a jack-ass to most everyone.
Overall, it was a good movie, but completely screwed up my image of Ray Charles. But it was interesting to see how his life progressed and how he was eventually able to turn things around and completely change his life. And Jamie Foxx did an amazing job. It’s been cool to watch him transform from crazy comedian on In Living Color to Oscar winner in Ray. Totally deserved his Oscar.
Here are a few other random thoughts I had during the movie.
Ray was lucky to be blind at times. Like when he was in Seattle. He was lucky that he couldn’t see how ugly the bar owner that he was sleeping with was.
I found it funny that Mary Ann Fisher was jealous of Ray spending time with another woman. When she was spending time with Ray while he was married to another woman. This again proves that women are crazy.
What was with the random scene with a bunch of white kids dancing on the beach to Ray’s music?? I just don’t get the point of the scene.
I was also glad to see that some stars from the 80’s (Booger from Revenge of the Nerds – played Ahmet Ertegun; Willow Ufgood from the movie Willow – played Oberon) didn’t end up as crack heads or criminals.
