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Don Cheadle Films
A Lesson Before Dying /
Devil in a Blue Dress /
Hotel Rwanda /
The United States of Leland /
Rosewood /
Hamburger Hill
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Talk To Me
Film Review by
Vince Rogers
The great 20th century
philosopher Sly Stone once said that “Everybody is a
Star.” Some stars always rise to the occasion, some
stars often fall from grace, some stars slowly burn out
and some stars join to form shining constellations.
During the course of their two decades long friendship,
TV and radio personality Petey Greene and his manager
Dewey Hughes would do all of the above.
Talk
to Me, helmed by Kasi Lemmons (Eve’s
Bayou) chronicles the true story of the fall,
rise and fall of one of America’s first, surely the most
“colorful” and possibly the most highly controversial
radio deejays and TV talk show hosts of all time, Ralph
Waldo “Petey” Greene. Long before Howard Stern or any
other “Shock Jock,” Petey Greene brought an
uncompromising edginess and “racy” political
incorrectness to the airwaves of our nation’s capital.
Petey Greene (Don Cheadle) dreamed very big, but the
world he came from was low on opportunity. He was a
product of the tough Washington D.C. ghetto and he could
not manage to see a world beyond it. The only way he
knew how to make a living, was by using his way with
words as a street hustler. Unfortunately, this was
before Hip-Hop and his rhymes didn’t pay him, nor could
they keep him out of jail.
Petey wound up doing a long bid in a prison, where his
gift for gab eventually leads to an assignment as the
prison’s PA announcer. He would ultimately become the
resident celebrity deejay of the penitentiary. One
fateful day, he was asked to negotiate with an inmate
who was threatening to kill himself. This good deed, his
service to the jailhouse community and good behavior
would ultimately lead to his early release. It’s a good
thing that the warden never found out that Petey and the
other inmate cunningly staged the suicide attempt
themselves.
While Petey’s star was falling, Dewey Hughes (Chiwetel
Ejiofor) star was definitely rising. He was a young
executive at a popular, but “also ran” Black soul music
radio station in the “Chocolate City.” Dewey and Petey
once had a chance meeting at the prison where Dewey’s
brother Milo (Mike Epps) was also incarcerated. At the
time, Dewey called Petey a “miscreant” and facetiously
challenged Petey to look him up when he got out of jail.
Little did he realize what a unique creation Petey truly
was.
Petey was determined to be a “Chocolate Star” and
illuminate the citizens of D.C. with his unique take no
prisoners style deejay skills. Shortly after his release
from prison, he and his “Foxy Lady” Vernell (Taraji P.
Henson) make a rowdy grand entrance at Dewey’s radio
station to “Get his job.” Although he didn’t pass the
first “interview,” he eventually makes it on the air in
rather inspired fashion.
Petey always knew he needed a man of obvious talents
like Dewey to help him get where he wanted to go.
However, it takes a little longer for the highly
polished, sophisticatedly urbane, well educated Dewey to
realize that he needed what Petey had even more. Petey’s
genuine grass roots love for his people and
uncompromising simple tell it like it “t-i-is” integrity
is what Dewey needs to truly achieve the stardom he so
greatly desires.
Dewey wanted to be a star but he didn’t know how to say
the things he needed to say to get there. Petey wanted
to be a star, but he didn’t know how to do the things he
needed to do to become one. Talk to Me is a
constantly hilarious, often poignant and intensely
inspirational story of two very different men trying to
achieve their versions of the “American Dream.” It
challenges us to remember that even people who seem
desperately disparate may need each other to become the
people they were meant to be. This is a Black history
lesson that many of us have forgotten and one that
others have never clearly understood.
Kasi Lemmons direction is simply outstanding. She
manages to capture the “Black Pride,” civil unrest,
political turmoil and class struggles of the time period
with a high level of authenticity. Petey and Dewey
embody the hopes, aspirations, grief and frustrations of
“inner-city” Black people in the 1960s and 1970s with
heartfelt sincerity and compelling realism. Ms. Lemmons
does an excellent job of bringing an almost flawless
screenplay by Rick Famuyiwa (Brown
Sugar) to life and manages to elicit brilliant
performances from her talented cast.
In addition to turning in another customarily high
quality performance that captures all of Greene’s
complexity and charisma, Don Cheadle also served as the
Executive Producer of Talk to Me. The other
actors also turn in superb performances, which is to be
expected from such talents as Martin Sheen, Cedric the
Entertainer and Taraji P. Henson. However, Ms. Henson
may want to be mindful of her repeated casting as the
long suffering, dedicated, “Soul Sister” muse to her man
with a heart of gold. Nevertheless, her performance was
heartwarming, incandescent and inspired as usual.
It is no small task to steal a film from the likes of
the extremely talented Don Cheadle, but Chiwetel Ejiofor
(Dirty
Pretty Things) as Dewey does just that. He
superbly captures the hopes, dreams, angst, and
insecurities of many young Black people of the day, who
were trying to escape their impoverished housing project
backgrounds and move into the “Talented Tenth.” Ejiofor
delivers a very engaging, multilayered, intricate,
portrayal of a character that could easily have been
seen by some as a villain. Instead, he manages to take
the audience on a journey into the heart and soul of
Dewey Hughes, a young man trying to define “Black Power”
on his own terms.
We come away with an
endearing understanding of Dewey. He is a man who has
also had to battle against the same system that almost
managed to prevent Petey from sharing his gifts with the
world and becoming a source of inspiration to the
community he so dearly loved. Hopefully, we will see
much more of Ejiofor’s magnificent talents in the future
as he continues to take on the complex characters he is
becoming known for.
Talk to Me is highly recommended. I encourage
everyone to support this film. Hopefully, it is destined
to one day become one of the classic films of Black
cinema.
If you like this review consider making a donation
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* Vince Rogers
was raised in Atlanta's Bowen Homes housing projects and
went on to attend Morehouse College as an academic
scholar. Although he is a widely published writer of
essays, poetry, short fiction, and scholarly papers, he
is most proud of being Editor of his high school
newspaper, the Frederick Douglass North Star.
His works were
among the Official Inaugural Selections of "I've Known
Rivers" The Museum of the African Diaspora Story
Project: Reproduction of the New Breed Leaders & Black
Mecca for the Sold Brother. He was the TimBookTu
Featured Writer for December of 2006. His scholarly
paper The Evolution of Shawntae Harris was
presented at the Hip Hop's Defiant Divas Conference at
Vanderbilt University.
His monthly fiction
column Pulp Fiction appears in
Pulp Magazine and his film Reviews are featured
in the
Southern Screen Report.
He contributes to
Clean Sheets Magazine; TimBookTu; Taj
Mahal Review: An International Journal; Chicken
Bones: A Journal; Thereby Hangs a Tale;
Catalyst Magazine; Southern Screen Report;
Pulp Magazine; Nghosi Books Anthology: Longing
Lust and Love ; 3 Lights Gallery (UK) The
Launch Exhibition; Black Arts Quarterly
(Stanford University).
You can read selected works at his
Blogs:
vincevision.blogspot.com,
waxvainglorious.blogspot.com and visit his Website:
www.vincevision.com. /
vincevision@yahoo.com or
vince@vincevision.com
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posted 27 July 2007 / updated 26 April 2008 |
