Talk to Me

Review By: Michael Dance
MichaelDance@TheCinemaSource.com

Petey Greene was never very well known outside of the Washington D.C. area, where in the 1960s he rose to prominence as a local radio DJ, stand-up comedian, and talk show host. But his successes in that world prove to be quite an interesting story, and apparently Don Cheadle thought so too when he decided to produce and headline Talk to Me, the new biopic of Greene directed by Kasi Lemmons.

What rescues the movie from biopic-style clichés most obviously is its humor; while the film is framed as a drama, many of the situations presented in the film are mined for their comedy. Greene, an ex-con fresh out of jail, gets his job at the WOL-AM radio station by literally fast-talking his way into it, with a little help from the program director who believes in him, Dewey Hughes (Chiwetel Ejiofor). Structurally speaking, Hughes is more the main character of the movie, a business-minded suit who admires Greene and knows that managing his career is the ticket to success for both of them.

We follow along as Greene’s radio show becomes successful, which eventually leads to a talk show, Petey Greene’s Washington. One of the standout sequences of the film features the staff of the radio station hearing the news of Martin Luther King’s death. The death sparked rioting in the D.C. area, and Greene’s all-night DJ marathon in which he called for a stop to the violence is handled in the film with grace (even though the sparse rioting scenes seem painfully restricted by the budget.

While the aftermath of King’s death is largely based in reality, another extended sequence in the film, a trip to The Tonight Show, is completely fictionalized. I suppose it doesn’t matter; it fits with the flow and besides, it’s a fun sequence that splices real footage of Johnny Carson with fake footage of Cheadle as Greene.

Ultimately the film just becomes about the two friends; the rigid, well-behaved, pro-establishment Hughes versus the loud do-his-own-thing Greene. That’s the love/hate friendship that drives the film, and Ejiofor and Cheadle are able to easily give the relationship some feeling. Martin Sheen also does good work as the radio station’s manager, as does Taraji P. Henson (from Hustle and Flow) as Cheadle’s on-again/off-again girlfriend. There’s not really too much else to say about the film; it introduces you to a great character and provides a few laughs, although the drama isn’t exactly revelatory, and the performances are energetic but don’t dig as deep as those such as in Walk the Line. But it does what it sets out to do, and for anyone