Top 5 – Jamie Foxx Movies

Jamie Foxx is one of the most talented people we have in Hollywood.  He can sing, dance, and play piano.  You can ask him to act in a drama, action movie, comedy, whatever, and he will crush it every time.  This Friday, Foxx stars in the corrupt cop flick, Sleepless.  So in honor of that, here are my five favorite Jamie Foxx movies.

This list is based on Foxx’s performance and the movie’s quality.

5 – DEAN “MOTHER FUCKER” JONES in HORRIBLE BOSSES (Seth Gordon, 2011)

In one of my favorite casting decisions of the decade, Foxx plays a “criminal” that helps our three goons (Jason Bateman, Jason Sudekis, Charlie Day) pull off the perfect murder.  In only a couple scenes, Foxx nearly steals the movie, with his hilarious one-liners, chemistry with the guys, and ability to keep it straight faced the whole time.  The more we talk to Mother Fucker Jones, the more we find out he’s actually a terrible resource, and the story about how he got his nickname is priceless.  I’m sure Foxx has had other great performances that warranted a spot on this list, but this is comedy gold.

4 – WILLIE BEAMEN in ANY GIVEN SUNDAY (Oliver Stone, 1999)

“Steamin'” Willie Beamen is the greatest football player in cinematic history, and Foxx made that happen.  He is a brash, cocky, skilled, yet raw player with immense amounts of potential and arrogance.  Coming in cold after the Miami Sharks veteran QB (Dennis Quaid) goes down, Willie must come in and take the Sharks all the way to the playoffs while facing adversity through his teammates, coaching staff, and the media.  This is very symbolic of Foxx at the time this movie came out.  He was a brash, cocky, extremely talented actor who was given a shot at the big time, working with Oliver Stone and Al Pacino, and he crushes it.  This movie proved Foxx had star power and was able to carry a movie.  Never before had he been given a role with this much complexity.  This was the launching point in his career.

3 – MAX in COLLATERAL (Michael Mann, 2004)

Jamie Foxx had one hell of a 2004, as you will see here and a couple spots up.  It was really the year where he became an A-list star and proved his acting potential.  That year started with Michael Mann’s L.A. crime film, Collateral.  Foxx plays a timid, day-dreaming cabbie named Max who picks up a hit man (silver-foxed Tom Cruise) and takes him around the city while he takes care of his hit list.  This is one of Cruise’s finest performances, but Foxx outshines him, giving us a fully realized performance and a performance that makes us root for Max.  He is a man who goes from timid to strong through out the night.  A man who stops being pushed around and even in the face of evil, goes at it.  It features Foxx’s usual charm, but also shows his range.  Rightly earning an Oscar nomination, Foxx is electric.

2 – DJANGO in DJANGO UNCHAINED (Quentin Tarantino, 2012)

When Quentin Tarantino was casting for his titular character, Foxx was not the number one choice.  Tarantino looked at the likes of Will Smith and Idris Elba for the role before Foxx.  I don’t think there was anybody better to play this part than Foxx.  Where Smith would have brought the swagger and Elba would have brought the seriousness, Foxx was able to bring both, making Django as badass as he was cool.  Just hearing him say, “The ‘D’ is silent, motha fucka,” is as smooth as Billy D. Williams selling me liquor.  Overshadowed by fellow actors Christoph Waltz and Leonardo DiCaprio, Foxx is the anchor that pulls Django along.

1 – RAY CHARLES in RAY (Taylor Hackford, 2004)

This was a no-brainer.  Foxx’s performance of Ray Charles in Taylor Hackford’s biopic is one of the greatest of this millennium and one of the best I have ever seen on screen.  Foxx really becomes Charles, playing the piano, singing, and nailing the performance as a whole.  This isn’t an impersonation, this is an immersion.  You are transfixed at how perfect Foxx is.  He nails the talking voice, the singing voice, the attitude, and mannerisms down to the tee.  He single handedly carries this film, showing Charles as a flawed human who’s talents and ego got the best of him along the way.  Foxx became one of the few actors in history to be nominated for two Oscars in the same year (for this as Collateral), and rightly won for this performance.  This is a great performance in a great movie and best Jamie Foxx movie.

What are you favorite Jamie Foxx movies?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter and Instagram, @kevflix, or on Facebook and YouTube by searching Kevflix.