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Again demonstrating why he's one of the most versatile actors around, Don Cheadle gives another prize-worthy performance as Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene Jr., the irrepressible radio DJ whose keepin'-it-real style made him a trusted voice on the airwaves during the turbulent late '60s and early '70s.

While his fearlessly robust performance absolutely galvanizes "Talk to Me," it's not the only thing that makes Kasi Lemmons' third feature such a pleasure to take in. Similarly commanding performances by Chiwetel Ejiofor and "Hustle & Flow's" Taraji P. Henson, plus an energetic script by Michael Genet and Rick Famuyiwa, vividly bring this biopic to life.

Following its Los Angeles Film Festival kick-off, the Focus Features film will be opening in limited release July 13, but enthusiastic word-of-mouth could ensure that audiences will tune in right up to the start of awards season.

We first see Petey Greene spinning the Marvin Gaye and Sam Cooke platters within the confines of Virginia's Lorton Prison, where he puts his "Ph.D. in poverty" to use telling it like it is to his fellow inmates.
It's there he meets the decidedly buttoned-down Dewey Hughes (the always intriguing Ejiofor), the program director for Washington, D.C.'s R&B station, WOL-AM, who's visiting his estranged, incarcerated brother (Mike Epps).

Pestering Hughes for an on-air job when he gets out of the can, Petey and his bubbly, take-no-prisoners girlfriend (a terrific Henson) make good on their threat to show up at his decidedly corporate station one day, refusing to take no for an answer.

Eventually wearing Hughes down enough to give him a shot behind the mike, Petey and his plain-speaking style instantly light up the phone lines at the station, where WOL owner E.G. Sonderling (Martin Sheen), knowing a ratings-booster when he sees one, hands Greene the coveted morning shift.

But Petey proves to be more than just a colorful radio personality. In the aftermath of the Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination he was the calming voice of reason for legions of listeners seeking immediate justice.

Looking to tap into his potential, Hughes becomes his manager, landing Petey his own TV show as well as stand-up gigs leading to an ill-fated appearance on "The Tonight Show."

Petey's subsequent downward spiral is a trajectory well-traveled by the biopic, and although it robs the film of that spirited comic zip found in the picture's first half, director Lemmons orchestrates the tonal shift with a refreshingly minimal amount of purposefulness, working from an effervescent script by Genet (whose father was Dewey Hughes) and Famuyiwa ("The Wood").

In addition to mining exceptional performances from Cheadle, Ejiofor and Henson, who creates another indelible performance here, Lemmons does well by bright turns from Sheen, Cedric the Entertainer and real-life husband Vondie Curtis Hall, the latter two planning a pair of WOR on-air personalities.

Also keeping it real are those rich period touches contributed by production designer Warren Alan Young and costume designer Gersha Phillips, whose fabulous creations for Henson appear to have come directly from the blaxploitation attic.

Completing the desired effect is Terence Blanchard's mood-altering, jazzy score and a Top 40s worth of golden soul oldies, highlighted by Cooke's ever-poignant "A Change Is Gonna Come."

TALK TO ME
Focus Features
A Focus Features and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment presentation of a Mark Gordon Co./Pelagius Films production
Credits:
Director: Kasi Lemmons
Screenwriters: Michael Genet and Rick Famuyiwa
Producers: Mark Gordon, Sidney Kimmel, Joe Fries, Josh McLaughlin
Executive producers: William Horberg, J. Miles Dale, Joey Rappa, Bruce Toll, Don Cheadle
Director of photography: Stephane Fontaine
Production designer: Warren Alan Young
Music: Terence Blanchard
Costume designer: Gersha Phillips
Editor: Terilyn A. Shropshire
Cast:
Petey Greene: Don Cheadle
Dewey Hughes: Chiwetel Ejiofor
"Nighthawk" Bob Terry: Cedric the Entertainer
Vernell Watson: Taraji P. Henson
Milo Hughes: Mike Epps
Sunny Jim Kelsey: Vondie Curtis Hall
E. G. Sonderling: Martin Sheen
Running time -- 118 minutes
MPAA rating: R

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/film/reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=9406



Another review


New U.S. Release
Talk to Me
By ROBERT KOEHLER
Don Cheadle, left, plays an ex-con who gets hired as a deejay by Chiwetel Ejiofor in Kasi Lemmons' 'Talk to Me.'

A Focus Features release, presented with Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, of a Mark Gordon Co., Pegasus Films production. Produced by Gordon, Kimmel, Joe Fries, Josh McLaughlin. Executive producers, William Horberg, J. Miles Dale, Joey Rappa, Bruce Toll, Don Cheadle. Directed by Kasi Lemmons. Screenplay, Michael Genet, Rick Famuyiwa; story, Genet.

Petey Greene - Don Cheadle
Dewey Hughes - Chiwetel Ejiofor
"Nighthawk" Bob Terry - Cedric the Entertainer
Vernell Watson - Taraji P. Henson
Milo Hughes - Mike Epps
E.G. Sonderling - Martin Sheen
Sunny Jim Kelsey - Vondie Curtis Hall

Don Cheadle gets a role to shake loose and revel in with Petey Greene, the loose-cannon deejay hero of Kasi Lemmons' energetic biopic "Talk to Me," which alternates too deliberately between jaunty comedy and serious message-making. The more Petey is allowed to live and breathe as a '60s streetwise hustler who literally barges his way into a D.C. radio station, the better pic handles its various agendas. But as Petey becomes a symbol of black liberation, the movie turns obvious and parched. Focus' hopes for a summer counter-programmer will likely be only half-realized, with mild B.O. and fair ancillary biz.
A distinct shift from Lemmons' more classically mounted "Eve's Bayou," "Talk to Me" displays the helmer's range and taste for everything from broad ghetto comedy to two-hander drama to period storytelling. But this also exemplifies how pic juggles too many things at once, compounded by the paradox that the lighter passages actually carry more substance than the overly emphatic ones.

WOL-AM program director Dewey Hughes (Chiwetel Ejiofor, in characteristically superb form) first encounters Petey in the prison where Dewey's brother Milo (Mike Epps) is doing time, and where Petey does a daily in-house, free-form broadcast, dropping F-bombs right, left and center. Dewey suggests Petey look him up when he gets out, and, soon, Petey, ever the operator, uses his close ties to the warden to get an early release.

Assigned by owner E.G. Sonderling (Martin Sheen) to revive the station's sagging ratings and tired pop profile, Dewey decides morning guy Sunny Jim Kelsey (Vondie Curtis Hall) has to go, but he doesn't count on Petey bursting into the station with his loud and flamboyant g.f. Vernell (Taraji P. Henson).

When Petey's attempts to go through the front door fail, he stages a one-man picket of the station as "unfair," embarrassing Dewey in the eyes of the community and leading to his supposed big break. When Petey shows talent but comes off too raw and untrained, this particular American Dream would appear to be over.

Cheadle and Ejiofor carry the movie on their shoulders with gusto. Their valiant efforts during the sequences when Petey manages to get back on WOR (against Sonderling's express orders) and is a smash with listeners rep a fine example of great performances covering severe script issues.

Early on, Lemmons suggests radio broadcasting is barely contained chaos, with Dewey as the straight "Negro" keeping it together and Petey as the emerging face of a freer black-is-beautiful ethos. Together, according to "Talk to Me," they nearly revolutionize not just the airwaves, but D.C. itself. Petey's running monologue of streetwise soul and justice connects with locals, which proves to be a blessing when he's able to cool community anger and fears of a riot in the wake of Martin Luther King's assassination.

Pic is considerably less assured during these and other, grimmer sections, not only because the riot never feels like a real danger, but also because the shifting focus -- as Dewey tries to steer Petey's career into a multimedia business, culminating in an appearance on "The Tonight Show" -- is excessively on-the-nose, the stuff of trite showbiz tragedy.

Rarely, if ever, has Cheadle seemed so unleashed and uncontained as he does inside Petey's persona, playing him as a real-life id running rampant through the proper channels of pop culture. The funniest aspect of Cheadle's grand, profane portrayal is how his Petey openly announces himself as a con, seducing Dewey and the audience, and then looks shocked at his own success. This crafty bit of cocky vulnerability reps a truly astonishing perf.

A weaker actor playing Dewey would have merely reacted to Petey, and, indeed, as written, much of Dewey's role is set in Petey's long shadow. But Ejiofor is far too potent to stick to such parameters, crafting a character of fascinating depth and contradictions. Support from Sheen and a brief appearance by Cedric the Entertainer as a WOL deejay are solid, while Henson as Petey's g.f. with attitude is too much for the room.

Early, mid- and late '60s periods are rendered reasonably well by Warren Alan Young's production design, but Lemmons' two top collaborators are cinematographer Stephane Fontaine (Arnaud Desplechin's regular ace d.p.) and music supervisor Barry Cole. Latter constructs a blow-out soundtrack of great tunes from the era, including dazzling use of Sam Cooke's classic "A Change Is Gonna Come" and both Les McCann's original and Meshell Ndegeocello's fresh cover of Gene McDaniel's immortal "Compared to What," which the movie turns into an anthem for Petey.

Camera (color, widescreen), Stephane Fontaine; editor, Terilyn A. Shropshire; music, Terence Blanchard; music supervisor, Barry Cole; production designer, Warren Alan Young; art director, Patrick Banister; set decorators, Cal Loucks, Patricia Cuccia; costume designer, Gersha Phillips; sound (Dolby Digital/DTS), Glen Gauthier; sound designers, Jay Nierenberg, Stuart Provine; supervising sound editor, Nierenberg; re-recording mixers, Marc Fishman, Tony Lamberti; visual effects supervisor, Aaron Weintraub; special effects coordinator, John G. Laforet; stunt coordinator, Jamie Jones; choreographers, Vicky Lambert, Paul Becker; assistant director, Walter Gasparovic; second unit director, J. Miles Dale; second unit camera, David Insley, Brian Heller; casting, Victoria Thomas, Robin D. Cook (Canada). Reviewed at Wilshire screening room, Beverly Hills, May 30, 2007. (In Los Angeles Film Festival -- opener.) MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 118 MIN.



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