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# Believe the buzz: Actor’s ‘Ray’ performance sings
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/believe-the-buzz-actors-ray-performance-sings/
- Published: 2004-10-29T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T05:21:33.000Z
- Author: Dan Dunn
- Tags: Entertainment, Santa Monica, #archive-import

Believe the hype: Jamie Foxx is as good as advertised in this highly entertaining biopic about the late, great Ray Charles. With one virtuoso performance befitting the virtuoso he’s channeling, the former “In Loving Color” sketch player becomes a big-time movie star and Academy Award favorite. There isn’t a moment in the entire picture in which we’re not convinced Foxx is Ray Charles, no small feat given the physical challenges of the role (during shooting, Foxx spent upwards of 14 hours each day sightless).

> “Ray” — is an instant inductee into the pantheon of great biographic movies

“Ray” is worth the price of admission for the soundtrack alone, featuring some of the most original, soul-stirring songs of the last century — “I Got a Woman,” “What’d I Say” and “Georgia On My Mind” to name a few. But there are so many other elements that make this film a winner, first and foremost among them Charles’ inspirational story, which truly is a triumph of the human spirit.

Taylor Hackford (“The Devil’s Advocate,” “An Officer and a Gentleman”) directs with an appropriate level of respect for his subject, while never turning a blind eye to the fact that like so many other musical geniuses, Charles was a highly flawed man — a heroin addict and serial adulterer who nearly lost everything before turning his life around. Foxx gets some fantastic support from his costars, most notably Kerry Washington (“The Human Stain”) as Ray’s long-suffering wife Della, and Regina King (“Jerry Maguire”) playing his backup singer and mistress. The story spans the 1930s to the 1970s and production designer Stephen Altman infuses each era with authentic realism. When you go — and you should go right now — wear comfortable shoes, because the musical numbers are so scintillating that you’ll surely feel like dancing in the aisles. (Rated PG-13 for depiction of drug addiction, sexuality and some thematic elements. Running time: 152 minutes)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 29, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/102904.pdf?ref=smdp.com)