Joe Barber Reviews “TALK TO ME”

by Joe Barber on Aug.03, 2007, under Joe Barber's Movie Reviews

MOVIE REVIEW: “TALK TO ME”

Native Washingtonians are often dismayed by the way Hollywood films portray their city. Far too often, films set in the Districit either concentrate on global politics or focus on the District’s reputation for street violence and poor public schools. Director Dasi Lemmons (”Eve’s Bayou”) brings a different perspective to the situation in her new film, “Talk To Me.” Based on the life and times of beloved and controversial ’60’s qnd ’70’s radio and television host and community activist Ralph “Petey” Greene, this entertaining and thought provoking film offers a close-up look at the “real” Washington.

Don Cheadle stars as Greene, who, as the movie begins, is serving a ten year sentence in Lorton Reformatory. An irreverent and funny presence on the prison’s in-house P.A. system, he believes he’s ready for a job in commercial radio once he’s released. Another prisoner brings Greene to the attention of his brother, radio executive Dewey Hughes (Chiwete Ejiofor, last seen in “Dirty, Pretty Things.) Hughes, who has just become program director for WOL-AM, the number two station of the two District stations aimed at black listeners, considers Greene a jive talking buffoon and dismisses his desire for a job as a joke.

When Greene is, through a series of unusual circumstances, reales from jail, he shows up at WOL, demanding a job. After some initial clashes, Huges, in desperate need of higher ratings, decides to give Greene a try. Battling major resistance from the rest of the station’s staff and its conservative owner (Martin Sheen,) Hughes helps Greene to find his own radio voice, a unique blend of ribald humor, disrespect for ego inflated authority figures of any race and self-deprecating honesty. The combination proved irresistible to listeners and Greene’s morning radio show became the talk of the city.

A popular weekly television show followed, along with stan up comedy sets at local, then national, comedy clubs. Managed by Hughes, Greene even gets a shot to appear on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson. But, with his growing fame, comes mounting pressure and the return of personal deamons that drove Greene into a life of drug abuse and crime. Even the friendship, born of Greene’s and Hughes’ mutual need for each other, is stressed to the breaking point.

Lemmoins and screenwriters Michael Gent and Rick Fanuviwa have crafted cinematic time capsule of sorts that takes viewers back o the days when the District was taking its first, tentative steps from under the shadows of the Congressionally appointed commissioner system of government and received its first appointed mayor city council. In the late 1960’s AM was still the dominant radio format and blacks made pp seventy percent of the city’s population.

Greene’s razor sharp wit and refusal to bow to the racial politcs of the day, vividly portrayed by Don Cheadle, made him both controversial and unnecessary in those changing times. Cheadle, Lemmons and the screenwriters are unblinking in their portrait of Greene, examining and exposing his flaws alongside his virtues. Ejiofor and the off-screen craftsmen do the same with the intelligent and ambitious Hughes. The two men play off each other beautifully while also skilfully crafting fascinating individual portraits of each man. The supporting cas, led by Sheen and “Hustle and Flow ’s” Taraji P. Henson as Greene’s girlfriend Vernell, add heft and flavor to the film. Many scenes, particularly those set in the hours and days after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, will move viewers to tears and laughter. Even those born years after he event are likely to find themselves filled with a variety of emotions.

While the filmmakers do compress time in some places and take a touch of dramtic liberty with a couple of situations, much of what appears here is true and memorable. Ralph Waldo “Petey” Greene was someone who spoke the unvarnished truth when it needed to be said, even when he spoke that uneasy truth about himself. “Talk To Me” presents his journey, hills and valleys, and celebrates the power of a special voice to make radio more than just a glorified music box. Get out and see this movie as soon as you can.

MPAA RATING: R for profanity, mild violence, drug and sexual content
JOE’S RATING:THREE AND A HALF STARS.