User Reviews

TALK TO ME (2007) *** Don Cheadle, Chiwtel Ejiofor, Taraji P. Henson, Martin Sheen, Cedric the Entertainer, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Mike Epps. (Dir: Kasi Lemmons)

Cheadle Sparkles in Biopic

Don Cheadle is perhaps the most underrated best actor of his generation giving it all in every film performance and not getting the true props and recognition for his craft of versatility. Perhaps this, one of his best roles to date, will change perspectives overall.

Cheadle plays ex-con Petey Greene, a street-smart smoothie, attempting to go legit by looking up a fellow prisoner's brother, Dewey Hughes (Ejiofor also giving an excellent turn), an uptight Washington, DC radio programming manager on the rise who is at a crossroads himself in the hope for bigger and brighter things in a broadcasting career he aspires to. When Petey arrives, all hell breaks loose, with genuine concern expressed by Dewey's boss E.G. Sonderling (Sheen) who has given him the daunting task of making the station a more viable form of entertainment for its dwindling listening in audience. Dewey reluctantly sees inspiration in the foul-mouthed Greene and recruits him only after a series of arguments, insults and a one-up-manship in a game of pool reducing Greene to his basics: a brother in need of a j-o-b.

After a near disastrous opening show, Greene is given one more shot by a scheming Dewey (who locks out all the staff as Greene goes into his fast-talking no b.s. mode) with the gambit paying off to callers ringing the phones off the hook.

In the interim, Dewey begins booking Greene on stand-up comic networking him into a local TV showcasing the controversial DJ and eventually to the top: a spot on "The Tonight Show" in NYC.

Director Lemmons deftly balances the prickly comedy with the genuine drama best depicted in the day Martin Luther King, Jr is assassinated and having Petey shine in his finest hours telling it like it is and uniting the city from the firestorms and rioting in the streets. She has a good command for her actors allowing each one to shine like the formidably funny and fierce Henson as Petey's vulgar yet golden-hearted hoochie mama. Overall the acting is solid and on the money, again with Cheadle and Ejiofor showing deft acting chops with versatility of drama and comedy.

The only flaw in the otherwise fine screenplay by Michael Genet and Rick Famuyiwa is you never get the full story on this larger than life character who has something of a kindred spirit with the late, great Richard Pryor yet the film manages to push on with his sadly limited life (Greene succumbed to cancer in the mid'80s). The gift of gab has never been so enjoyable.

'Talk To Me' tells the story of Petey Greene, played by Don Cheadle. However, the real star of this film is Ejiofor. He's the one who makes the movie worth watching. The story is pretty great but doesn't really speak to me as I'm a '90's kid. The script was strong and especially the first half was very enjoyable. I did feel like the second part of the movie wasn't as strong as it should've been and the ending borders on the cliché but that are all forgivable mistakes. The movie is worth watching, though I feel it isn't quite the masterpiece it could've been.

Thumbs up !

The story of Petey Greene obviously has great entertainment and educational potential. However, I recently watched this movie and was left unsatisfied. Where this movie most differs from other great bio flicks such as Malcolm X, The Hurricane, Ali and Redemption (the story of Tookie Williams), is that its central figure does not appear to change or evolve in some way by the end of the story. He tries to change in order to appease his manager Dewey, but fails. He starts as a man for the truth (as he sees it) and ends up the same way. That may be commendable, but a man longing for the comfort of "the cave" does not make for a great story.

Also, this movie's superficial treatment left me with major unanswered questions about Petey Greene, whom I'd not heard of previously. The movie did not focus on Petey Greene enough, did not get into his head to expose why he thinks the way he does. By the end, I knew more about Dewey's motivation than about Petey's. The movie seemed to be more about how other people responded to Petey than about Petey himself.

The actors in the main roles all did an excellent job. Don Cheadle continues to show that he can superbly deliver whatever his role calls for. Chiwetel Ejiofor, portraying another brooding and strong but torn character, steps it up from American Gangster, and gives an excellent performance. Taraji Henson is simply stunning here, and Martin Sheen is one of the greats of our time. Mike Epps and Cedric the Entertainer were wasted here. I can see why they might want to be in on this project no matter how small the part. But, having these two extraordinary personalities present and giving them virtually no important lines struck me as a mistake.

Overall, a worthwhile flick despite the above criticisms.

I was disappointed by the end of this movie. I'd never heard of Petey Greene but the little core info I got from reading between the cartoon lines of this movie leads me to believe he was an important figure with a sizable contribution to his community. For some reason they chose to tell this story in over dramatized cartoon style, all it was missing was the laugh track to tell us when the jokes were.

So many scenes reeked of "enhanced for movie" to the point of disbelief. If you know anything about how a radio station works then you'll know the whole part about how he gets his first and second chances on air are completely dreamed up for dramatic effect.

They never demonstrated why he was a good voice for the people or why he resonated so well with them. obviously it wasn't just because he could talk sh!t. Missing that background it became hard to care about this person who was obviously an important person in Washington's history and really just undermined Petey Greene's story, making this movie read like another cliché black guy from the projects makes good movie instead of the interesting and multi layered real story it pretends to tell.

This movie was entertaining enough but it didn't do Petey or his story justice in the slightest. You could say "well what do you expect from Hollywood", but we live in hope that Hollywood will respect the intelligence of its audience and let an interesting story tell itself without having to polish it and paint it in cliché primary colors. What a waste.

I picked up the DVD yesterday in the bargain bin of Big Lots for $1.50. It was the cheapest movie in the bin, but I knew I would never get a chance to see it otherwise. I lived in DC after Green died, and knew little about him. This movie is also an important history for those of us who love/hate the city.

As you can see from previous reviews, many of us are convinced this is an excellent movie. I expected great acting from Don Cheadle, but I was most impressed with how tight the whole movie was - great writing by Michael Genet and Rick Famuyiwa, terrific directing by the very talented Kasi Lemmons, excellent ensemble acting especially between Cheadle, Eliofor and Tanaji P. Henson (who steals a few scenes herself). And the music, if you love old school, this is it!

Of course, the movie is about race and class, but I think we need to go beyond the film's subject and ask, Why is this excellent movie by African Americans so marginalized in our cinema industry?

Talk to Me strikes a reflective chord for much of it's 2 hours and especially towards it's end. It features a run through of the middle lives of 2 radio announcers in Washington DC. The clowning and camaraderie is on display early on, and surely the movie's best energy is during it's first 2/3 of the runtime. Towards the last 20 min or so there's a winding down that's noticeable. Nonetheless Cheadle and Ejiofor are sort of like a ying/yang type relationship as Petey Green and Dewey Hughes. The Cheadle character has been in trouble with the law and street smart, while Ejiofor's has worked hard while clean and also being street smart. This was an interesting sort of a bio/docu-drama outlining the two's friendship from early on spanning 2 decades around the Civil Rights era and later. Good acting amid some slower pacing worth the watch.

Here is a biopic that knows what it is. Petey Greene, an ex-con with a voice, gets his chance to speak to a city and use his one true gift, the one thing he enjoys and is good at besides being a miscreant. Kasi Lemmons never tries to tell us about Petey or his manager Dewey Hughes' past history to get them to where we start the film. Besides what they tell each other, the film being shown encompasses the start of what would be a tight friendship until Greene's early death. Talk to Me is about the voice and the courage that these two men allowed to be given to the public during a time of change and political turmoil. Yes we are shown the rise and inevitable fall of a real-life person, but unlike most biographies that fail, this film doesn't dwell on the hard times, but instead decides to not really show them. One's fall from grace ushers the other's rise to glory, however, the two never forget what they did together. They never lose a grasp on the fact that neither would have been anything without the other.

Petey Greene was the voice that united a Washington DC torn apart by Vietnam and Civil Rights. He said what producer Dewey Hughes didn't have the guts to say, but wanted to, and Hughes did what Greene was too afraid to do by himself. This is the dynamic of the film and the core of everything that transpires. The high points are because both are working on the same pace, doing what they do best. As for the low points, they occur when both can't handle the fact that they aren't doing it by themselves. Hughes wishes Greene was his brother, taking his gift for humor and public speaking and using it for good rather than wasting away in a jail cell. Greene wishes he could be more than the convict he is, but when given the chance by Hughes, he does what he is asked and tells the truth—that he is a criminal the world isn't ready for. Dewey was right about one thing, though, the world was waiting for a man like Greene; it was Petey who wasn't ready for the world.

While I can't quite praise Lemmons for a successful biopic that never falls into the traps inherent in them, I can praise her craftwork. I mean the reason she doesn't fall flat on the downfall is that she refuses to show it. This works in one respect because she has another lead to carry the load once her first leaves the film, however, this act kind of subverts the whole story that is being told. It might be looked upon as an easy out, but nevertheless it does work on the level of keeping the story going without a lull of the same old tragedy we always see in these films. With that said, though, Lemmons orchestrates some amazing sequences. Between the pool scene where Hughes shows what he is really made of and the riots with subsequent radio broadcast post MLK Jr's assassination, we are given some very powerful moments. Sure these guys are a perfect fit for the comedic jabs, and there are plenty, but they are also very serious about the roles they have in media. No matter where they came from, they are able to stand up and unite the city in hope and make them realize that the destruction goes against all they have been fighting for.

I don't know how the film could have succeeded without both Don Cheadle (Greene) and Chiwetel Ejiofor (Hughes). These two are powerhouses here and show why they are two of the best actors working in the business today. Pitch-perfect in both the high and low times, these guys never falter or disrespect their characters. Cheadle has the swagger and the attitude to show what Greene was made of, but also the emotional range to express the pain of his existence. It is not drugs or alcohol that commence his descent from glory; it is the lack of faith in himself as someone more than a street crook. His skyrocketing to fame was too fast and his friend's confidence wasn't enough to keep him going for gold. Whereas Greene looked to talk to his people, Hughes looked to take on the world. Thankfully, Greene's candor allowed Hughes to be able to open up and do it on his own. Ejiofor shows amazing range to make it all work. From his Johnny Carson imitation in order to fit in on the corporate world level, to his street roots mentality mixed with business savvy, to his alter ego radio voice (laughable "properness" at the start and coolly confident at the end), he plays all the personalities that Hughes needed to keep separate in order for his life to work.

Those two guys of course carry the film. However, the numerous supporting roles help round out the drama at hand. Martin Sheen is priceless as the forward thinking radio owner, willing to get the right personnel to get back to the people, but still keeping classic "white" phrases as blue-blazes and hoodwinked in his vocabulary to crack up Greene. Taraji P. Henson shows how much she deserves to really get any part she wants. Ever since Hustle and Flow, I truly have enjoyed each role I have seen her play. A final note for Lemmons as director would be her ability to rein in some characters for small, yet crucial roles. Both Cedric the Entertainer and Mike Epps have the ability to go over board. With their small roles here, though, Cedric is very good as the somewhat over-the-top "Nighthawk" and Epps is fantastic as the brother that Hughes wishes he could have helped earlier on. All around, Talk to Me is a wonderful film to experience a slice of life that you may not remember or may have never known about.