Ready, Mr. Big Shot Hollywood producer? I’ve got a great script I want to sell you. It’s about a really famous musician, but here’s the neat little catch: It’s not based on any particular one. We just pick whatever dead musician we want, and trim and hem the script a bit to fit their life. Then comes the best part — when the film’s really just about their drawn-out drug abuse saga and cheating on the wife back home with a groupie or leaving her for a collaborator, you pick the name of one of their famous songs that perfectly describes how boring the plot is, and you call the movie that.”

So reads the modern musician biopic formula after “Walk the Line.” At least “Ray” delved into its subject’s actual musical career — when it’s not worshipping the Folsom Prison recording and Johnny Cash’s music, the country singer’s biopic shifts between two soon-tired storylines: Cash’s junkie-grade pill habit, and his obsessive love for June Carter. Spice this up with a few clips of Cash’s wife moping, and we’re still well within our friend’s wonderful little formula. Only problem is, it didn’t produce a good movie.