Ray

Foxx, who has flexed his muscles in the last couple of years with more dramatic fare such as this year''s Collateral and 2001''s Ali, has never been given the time of day by audiences. He has been at most a second-rate actor and most definitely a comical one - not someone who could do serious pictures. None of his movies up until 2004 have been spectacular are there are plenty of people who could probably fail to mention even one movie he''s starred in. But now, things are different. Foxx will undoubtedly receive an Oscar nomination for his performance here, as he transforms himself both physically and vocally into the late Ray Charles. But, as most people would say, acting is more than just looks and voice - it''s passion - and Foxx seems to be completely engrossed in the roll. From beginning to end, he is Ray Charles.

Except for about half a minute near the end of the movie. While this half-minute doesn''t really take away from Foxx''s performance, it is amazingly jarring. The movie uses flashbacks of Charles'' childhood to both explain his blindness and his drug addiction, which revolves around the death of his younger brother. Near the end of the film, Charles finally accepts his brother''s death wasn''t his fault and Hackford chooses to portray this by placing the fully grown Jamie Foxx back in his childhood flashback - with the ability to see. Symbolically, it might sound good on paper, but oh is it so bad! The blindness is part of Charles'' character and is very important in a movie, because movies are visual. For half a minute or so, Hackford yanks Foxx out of character and gives him the ability of sight, which surprisingly completely changes the look of Foxx himself. For that time, he doesn''t walk like a blind man or look like a blind man - thus, he only looks like the actor Jamie Foxx. Hackford should have cut the scene out of the movie.