The title characters of Raymond & Ray are half-brothers whose father, Harris, enjoyed tormenting them so much that he deliberately gave them the same name. That's just one of the ways that Harris abused and mistreated his sons, but when Raymond (Ewan McGregor) and Ray (Ethan Hawke) reunite for their late father's funeral, they encounter only positive impressions from the people who knew him in his declining years. Despite its blunt dialogue and moments of overwrought anguish, Raymond & Ray never gets at the emotional truth in either of those reactions. Whether treating its subject matter with humor or gravity, it's consistently unconvincing.
That starts from the moment that Raymond knocks on Ray's door to give him the news about their father. Although they haven't spoken in a few years, the brothers grew up together and were supposedly inseparable when they were younger, but McGregor and Hawke lack that familiarity, coming off more like acquaintances than trauma-bonded siblings. (It doesn't help that despite years of playing American characters, McGregor still can't quite get the accent right.)
Writer-director Rodrigo García makes things worse by having his actors essentially state the themes of the movie to each other, as they recount the expository details of their lives for the benefit of the audience. Raymond is the more subdued and outwardly stable one, although he's been through three marriages and is separated from his current wife. Ray is a recovering addict who's drifted through various jobs and never achieved his dream of becoming a jazz musician, thanks in part to the relentless criticism from his dad. They mostly get along, although they have a requisite blowout in the final act as long-buried tensions come to the surface.
Raymond & Ray starts out as a road-trip movie for the two brothers, but it doesn't take long before they arrive at their destination, where they encounter a range of characters involved in their father's final arrangements, from a fussy funeral director (Todd Louiso) to a flamboyant preacher (Vondie Curtis-Hall). At Harris' house, they're surprised to discover that he was living with Lucia (Maribel Verdú), an ex-lover who continued to care for him as his health deteriorated. They're also surprised to learn that their father has left them detailed instructions in his will — seemingly as one last way to torment them — that require them to dig his grave themselves.
That's a convenient way to get all the characters together for an extended period of time at the cemetery, where Raymond and Ray get to work digging and various family secrets are revealed as more people show up to join them. Verdú brings a spark to the movie, but Lucia and Kiera (Sophie Okonedo), a nurse who attended Harris, exist mainly as sounding boards and props for the male characters' development. The two women form romantic connections with the two men that seem entirely one-sided. García's other work, including 2020 addiction drama Four Good Days, has often focused on the inner lives of female characters, so it's a bit unexpected for him to create such flimsy love interests.
García's previous films have also been similarly stilted and self-satisfied, so in that way Raymond & Ray fits right in. McGregor and Hawke struggle to find the genuine emotion in their characters, and Hawke occasionally gets there, but the revelations are underwhelming. The pacing is off, as the movie drags on past its climax at the cemetery, and the smoky jazz score by Jeff Beal always sounds out of place. The funeral is cathartic for Raymond and Ray, but audiences are likely to find it a less illuminating experience. ♦
Raymond & Ray
