‘Talk’ about a good film

James Verniere
Film Review “Talk to Me” (B+)

A “Good Morning Vietnam” for the civil rights movement, “Talk to Me” tells a unique story in spite of that dangerously shopworn title. It is also an acting powerhouse driven by real-life American history of the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s.

At the epicenter of the film’s pop cultural and political upheavals is its protagonist, the hilariously profane and provocative convict Ralph Waldo “Petey” Greene (Don Cheadle in an Academy Award-caliber, Richard Pryor-esque performance).

When we first meet Petey, he’s in a closet off the warden’s office, entertaining his fellow Washington, D.C.-area inmates at Lorton Penitentiary playing DJ on the prison PA system.

“Wake up!” is only one of Petey’s galvanizing mantras. Petey’s in jail doing “a nickel to a dime” (5 to 10 years). He wears a paisley ascot and waistcoat, outward signs of his idiosyncratic self. When Dewey Hughes (Chiwetel Ejiofor), the fiercely proud, radio-executive brother of an inmate, shows up on visiting hours, Petey accosts the young, handsome black man, calling him a Sidney Poitier wannabe, using much ruder terms, and demanding a job as a DJ when he gets out of the joint.

A short time later, Petey and his beloved Vernell (Taraji P. Henson of “Hustle & Flow”), looking ready to audition for “The Mack” and “Foxy Brown,” respectively, arrive at WOL-AM in D.C., where the most popular DJ is a smooth operator known as the Nighthawk (Cedric the Entertainer). They proceed to wreak havoc. Most offended is station owner E.G. Sonderling (Martin Sheen), who is concerned about falling ratings and whom Petey irreverently nicknames “Blue Blazes” (Petey also nicknames Dewey “Mr. Tibbs”). Soon, Petey is “the prophet of the streets,” a Washington, D.C.-area radio legend and oracle.

Among his most notable achievements are helping to calm Washington, D.C., in the wake of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the imprint he left on shock jocks the world over. Among his worst are blowing a shot on “The Tonight Show” by deliberately insulting the audience and host Johnny Carson and drinking himself into oblivion.

Cheadle and Ejiofor are absolutely riveting in their roles. “Talk to Me” covers much the same ground as the overrated 2006 release “Dreamgirls” and is far superior to it. If “Talk to Me” has a flaw, it is that Petey is Petey from beginning to end. The character does not change much over time. The times change to accommodate him. I get that, but dramatically the lack of any character arc is a problem.

Still, everyone involved can be proud of “Talk to Me.”

As Petey might say, raise your fists, y’all.

Rated R. “Talk to Me” contains objectionable language and sexual situations.

This article appeared online, in The Herald News of Fall River, MA, July 18, 2007.

GateHouse Media, Inc. is one of the largest publishers of locally based print and online media. They currently serve local audiences of more than 10 million per week across 20 states through hundreds of community publications and local websites. These articles are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. They are used editorially only and may not be resold or modified.

In Entertainment, Movies, Reviews on July 27, 2007 at 00:00 with with Popularity: 1% [?]

One Response to “‘Talk’ about a good film”

  1. bob on July 27th, 2007 7:28 am

    I 100 percent agree with you about this movie. Truly amazing. The only thing I disagree with was about the protagonist. It’s Dewey’s story really. The story begins anmd ends with him and he is the one who changes. Petey is the constant, like Rainman.

Got something to say?





Note: This post is over a year old. You may want to check later on in Blast to see if there is new information relevant to your comment.

Creative Commons License Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional

Blast is the Online Magazine