We see tragedy in the singer's youth, addiction in adulthood and the real origin of "Folsom Prison Blues," but director James Mangold couldn't show the most relevant devil dog nipping at the movie's heels even if he tried.

"Walk the Line" is a good biopic featuring a couple excellent performances, but it suffers the misfortune of coming a year after "Ray." Critics tripped over themselves in the rush to slobber on Jamie Foxx's piano; every musician biography in the near future will have to tolerate comparison.

To be fair, "Walk the Line" is an enjoyable film. Mangold uses Cash's legendary 1968 Folsom Prison concert to frame his rise from a poor childhood in Arkansas to icon status in the music world.

Joaquin Phoenix gives a fine performance that is almost as clear and deep as the singular voice that he mimics with stunning accuracy. In going beyond the guarded Man in Black mythology to show Cash as a conflicted, sometimes needy man, Phoenix is in turn sexy, dangerous, vulnerable, gifted and sad.

Witherspoon gives a similarly strong performance as June Carter, the sassy, strong foil who kicks Cash in the butt and steals his heart. Cash and Carter meet while participating in a Sun Records tour that includes Elvis, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis, so it's a given that "Walk the Line" looks and sounds good. The chemistry between Phoenix and Witherspoon is spot-on, and Mangold even hints at the demanding relationship that celebrities endure with fans and the press.

But the director falters in realizing a consistent vision of Cash. The first half of "Walk the Line" wraps itself in Cash's rebellious, thick- skinned mystique, revealing more about what made the singer a star than a person. Later, the movie zeroes in on Cash's struggle with prescription pills and his unforgiving father. A more artfully unified movie about Cash might have been a classic, but this isn't it.

The biggest obstacle that "Walk the Line" doesn't quite clear is the same faced by every non-fiction-based film: the viewer already knows what happened, so the movie has to make up for a lack of surprise with some other element.

That momentum is what Jamie Foxx gave "Ray." Even if his performance was barely removed from mimicry, it was sensational mimicry. You could actually watch a talented but undistinguished actor rocket into the upper reaches of movie stardom.

"Walk the Line" boasts no such catalyst. It's a good, unremarkable biography that will please casual Cash fans and won't offend the others. And if sales of Cash's greatest hits see a slight bump during the holiday season, then mission accomplished.